Angel of Darkness
by Toya Kei
Summary: The abandoned town of Neibelheim's Mako Reactor has a mystery. A girl, born and raised in the darkness. Her body plays host to Shinra's finnest experiments. Sephiroths finally found some one he can relate to, but he fears her powers might surpace his own.
1. Laying in Wait

Chapter 1- Laying in Wait.

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"Lazard Speaking," A frail man with shoulder length blonde hair spoke into the intercom situated in front of him the briefing room of the SOLDIER headquarters.

"Sir!" A young male's voice responded to Lazard's. "Neibelheim is completely vacant. There are no signs of life in the town and it looks as if the people had abandoned it quite a while ago. We still have yet to check the reactor, do we proceed?"

"No, I'm sending in a first class to investigate the reactor. Fall back. You and your team can head out to your next mission." Lazard clicked the intercom off when he had finished talking into it. "Sephiroth, I want you and Angeal to see what's going on there. I don't know what you'll find; just report back to me when you do find something."

"Understood," Sephiroth and Angeal stood up at the same time. Sephiroth, the tallest of the pair led the way out of the briefing room, his long silver hair swaying as he passed through the doors and his cat-like green eyes narrowed as he pondered in thought about what exactly was happing in the little mountain town. Angeal followed behind him, adjusting the large broadsword on his back into a more comfortable fashion. He stared at the back of his colleagues head with his mako-infused blue eyes, as if her were trying to figured out what exactly Sephiroth was thinking. Angeal had to push his shoulder length raven hair out of his eyes when the sliding door to the room created some wind when it opened.

"I'll meet you by the train station." Angeal stated and headed off in the opposite direction of Sephiroth to back a few things for the journey.

Not too much later, Angeal and Sephiroth awaited the train to Neibelheim. Angeal shifted from foot to foot as he anxiously stood next to Sephiroth. Sephiroth however, stood completely still. He was a cold fellow; some had even called him an icy bastard behind his back. But that was okay with him, he didn't give a damn about what other people thought. He knew his place and what he had to do. Working for SOLDIER was the only thing that mattered in his life. Everything else, such as relationships, emotions and wealth only got in the way. He had nothing to protect, nothing to strive for.

Angeal however was quite opposite. Though he was a logical, serene fellow he wasn't quite as could as his silver hair buddy. His face was fixed in a permanent scowl, but those who were close to him knew that he had a heart of gold. He'd always tried to embrace his dreams while managing to protect his honor. Angeal had grown up in a poor town with little money and to him, honor and dreams were what he solemnly lived for.

The burgundy train pulled up to their platform and the two first class SOLDIERS were off. They found a secluded cabin and spent the rest of the journey in silence, Sephiroth taking a quick nap and Angeal watching the rolling hills pass by through the train window. After a few hours, the train stopped at the southern part of Neibelheim and the men stepped off the locomotive.

"The reactor's at the top of the mountain." Sephiroth flicked his head slightly in the direction the mountain was.

"Let's get to work." Angeal replied.

They trudged through the thin layer of snow on the ground across the empty town. Angeal was holding up a handheld device in the hair, scanning for life signs through the whole two, but as the group of 3rd class soldiers had discovered, there was nothing. Not a single form of life. Finally, they reached the icy steps to the Mako-Reactor and began their descent. After carefully avoiding black it hidden underneath the snow, they finally made it all the way up to the reactor.

The door had been left open and Sephiroth slowly opened the door wide enough to fit the two grown men in side of it. Angeal fumbled around for a few moments until he found a light switch. With a flick of his finger, the whole building became illuminated. Angeal pulled out his handheld scanner again to make another check. Starting from his right side, he slowly moved the scanner across his line of sight so that it was now on his left right. He was about to slide it back into his pocket when it began beeping widely. Sephiroth looked the screen over Angeal soldier and saw that there was 1 life sign in the entire reactor. The two SOLDIERS headed in the direction of the life sign, passing broken science materials such as test tubes, computers, body chambers, microscopes, syringes and other things along that line. Not only were they broken and smashed, but they all seemed to have a dark ash-like charcoal soot coating them, as if there had been some sort of fire.

As they continued looking around the room, Sephiroth walked over to what looked like a pile ashes in the corner. As he got closer, he noticed it wasn't a pile of ashes but something he had not expected in the least bit.

"Angeal I found the life form." He motion for his comrade to come and see what he was looking at. Sephiroth bent down and rolled over what ever it was huddled up in the corner. A young girl, covered in soot and ash was lying on the floor. Sephiroth looked at her eyes and noticed they were wide open but she was blinking, or looking anywhere in particular, the big crimson orbs were just staring. She was still alive, though her breathing was light and she hadn't moved at all other then Sephiroth rolling her over. Her long black hair fell messily across the floor and her face. Her hands were pulled tightly to their opposite shoulder and securely held down in a soot covered strait-jacket. The ashes on her face seemed a lot darker with the tear stains rolling down her cheeks. She couldn't have been more then 16 years old. She was wearing a skirt that was unidentifiable by colour and length because the soot on her skin and clothes melded into one colour.

"Maybe she can tell us what happened hear," Angeal suggested.

"Let's bring her back to SOLDIER H.Q. and that will be Lazars job." Sephiroth picked up the girl in his arms, hooking an arm around her lower back and underneath her knees.

Angeal nodded and did one last sweep with his life sign scanner but picked up nothing else. He saw a box that had been untouched by the fire in the corner and noticed that it was full of video tapes. Angeal picked the box up and then the SOLDIERS left the reactor, Sephiroth carrying the filthy girl down the steps. It was pretty much nightfall by now plus it was snowing and the girl was wearing quite thin cloths, though, she didn't seem to feel the temperature change at all. He could fell her heart beating slowly; the pace hadn't seemed to change at all.

After a few hours on the train again, it pulled up in the Midgar Train Station. There wasn't any snow there, but it was still quite cold being, nightfall and all. The men walked back to the SOLDIER building and through the front door calmly. Many of the younger SOLDIERS stopped what they were doing and turned to look at their entry.

Lazard came out to greet them. "Who is this?" He pointed at the girl in Sephiroths arms. The girl's eyes were still wide open, and she still wasn't moving or blinking. She continued to stair into the abyss.

"We found her on the floor in the reactor. She's been like this the entire time," Angeal pointed to the girls face.

"Hm…" Lazard thought to himself. "Take her to the medical ward and see if you can find some one to clean her up."

With that, Sephiroth left the two men behind him and went straight to the medical ward. The doors opened for him automatically and he placed the sooty girl on one of them empty beds, black particles falling off her onto the white blanket and pillow. He stood above her bed, staring into her eyes. He could tell that that particular pair of irises had witnessed many horrors and been through much torment.

While Sephiroth was lost in thought, a plump woman in a nurse's outfit scurried in with a pale of water and a few cloths soaking in it. She placed it on the bedside table next to the girl and wiped her hands on her apron.

"Can you give me a hand with her cloths?" The nurse asked, turning the young girl on her side to unbutton the back of her straight-jacket.

Sephiroth propped the girl up as the nurse pulled off the jacket. He noticed the girl's mouth twitch in pain, and then go back to the emotionless stare it was moments before as her arms fell to her sides. The soot hadn't touched the white shirt she's been wearing underneath or her arms. Her arms with as pale as death, as if they had never seen the light of day in her entire life. Not only was she horrifically pale, but she was extremely skinny, in fact, her ribs seemed to protrude from underneath her shirt. The nurse pulled off her skirt to reveal an adult sized diaper.

"Thank you that will be all," The Nurse shooed Sephiroth out of the infirmary. Sephiroth went outside and watched from the window. He honestly had nothing better to do with his time. He just wanted to see if she would eventually snap out of her trance.

The nurse rang out one of the cloths and started scrubbing the girl down. By the time she was done, all the cloths and the entire bucket of water were black. She moved her to a clean bed and pulled the sheets over her. The nurse scuttled away to dump the water out the drain, throw out the girls ruined cloths, and find some fresh ones. She returned to dress the girl in the only thing she could find, a pair of black leather Capri's and a white tank top. Fortunately, the nurse had found a set of clean female underwear for the young girl. She had pulled over a screen while she was changing her, it wasn't often that there were young girls in the SOLDIER Headquarters and she knew that some of the young cadets would be dying for a peep show. The nurse ran a hair brush through the girl's hair and even though she was unintentionally tugging quite hard on the girls hair, she never fidgeted, winced, or gasped in pain. She seemed like a zombie.

By now, a group of people had gathered by the window, watching the girl. Such people included, Sephiroth, Genesis, Zack, Angeal, and Lazard. The nurse came out to report her findings.

"Has she said anything?" Lazard was the first to ask.

"No sir, in fact she didn't move the entire time. There's something I want you to see." The nurse led the first class SOLDIERS and The Director to where the girl was laying.

As they got closer, every detail on her skin became visible. The Nurse lifted up one of the girls jello-like arms and showed the men. Many cuts and scars ran across it. Her cheek bone was bruised and there were even more scars running down her neck. Her entire body seemed to be covered in recent and old scars, bruises and cuts.

"Her shoulders, fingers, wrists, and elbows were all dislocated. No doubt because of the beatings she attainted. The straight jacket didn't help the cause either. I managed to snap them all back into place, but we'll see how she recovers. Also, there's one more thing." The nurse turned the girl over and moved her hair out of the way to reveal the back of her neck. "I found this while I was washing her." The lady pointed to a spot where the ghostly girl's skin appeared to be branded with the Shinra logo. Then the nurse let the girl rest on her back again.

"Give her a cat scan and a full skeleton x-ray. Let me know when you have the results. I have some work I must attend to." Lazard walked out of the medical ward, shooing cadets away from the window as he went. That left the four first class soldiers and the nurse standing over the young girl.

"Does this mean she's like us? You know, with the tattoo and all?" Zack's hand stroked the back of his neck where the Shinra Logo was forever embedded into his skin. The nurse left to go tend to another patient a few beds down from where the girl was.

"It could…" Angeal said thoughtfully.

"Other then a pregnant woman, Shinra has never used a female for their research and experiments." Genesis stated.

"She might not even be an experiment, she might just be the property of Shinra," Angeal scowled at his own comment.

"WHAT?!" Zack turned to face Angeal. "HOW CAN SHE _**BELONG**_ TO SHINRA?!"

"Calm down Zack, it's the same concept with you belonging to SOLDIER. You can never leave." Sephiroth said, icicles forming around each word he spoke.

"Zack don't you have a mission to do?" Angeal questioned. "You too Genesis."

Zack let out an exasperated sigh and left the room, followed by Genesis.

"I put the tapes in the video room. Lazard wants us to take a peak at them," Angeal motioned for Sephiroth to follow him down the hallway. They went into a dark room with a large television screen, a few couches and some chairs. Sephiroth flopped on one of the couches, lying across it. Angeal popped in the first tape he had picked out and then sat in a lazy boy recliner chair.

The screen went fuzzy for a moment then the picture on the tape popped up.

The man the seemed to be holding the video came began to speak in a dry, raspy voice. "May 3rd, 11:11 p.m. The subject has officially been born." The camera zoomed in on a sleeping infant. "The subject has been given the mark of Shinra to make sure the father doesn't try to swap it. Subject killed the mother during birth. The experiment was a success. As the subject grows, further tests on it's abilities will take place."

The screen went fuzzy for a second then changed to another scene.

"August 9th, 9 a.m. Subject is now 5." The camera man was recording the girl writing out equations on a chalk board that some of the greatest minds had a hard time figuring out. "Subject demonstrates tremendous intelligence and appears able to solve any problem confronted with. Subject can not speak but is a quick learner." The girl turned around to face the camera man, she stepped aside to show him her work, hoping for praise but there was none. She kept her eyes on her shoes as she waited for a response from him. Her left arm was wrapped in a heavy bandage and she had a black eye.

The screen went fuzzy for a second then changed to another scene.

"January 30th, 3 p.m. Subject is 11 and has matured rapidly." The camera showed a girl who didn't look in the least bit like she was 11 but more like she was 15. The girl was running around a room at a speed that was far from human. Her long brown hair whipping behind her as she dashed around. Then, she ran up to a bar on an exercise machine, gripped it tightly and pulled herself into the air. She repeated her set of chin-ups at a lightning quick pace.

The screen went fuzzy for a second then changed to another scene.

"June 13th, 6 a.m. subject is 16." The television screen showed the girl preparing to spar with a prosperous man. The man swung the first punch. The girl blocked it with her opposite wrist then firmly gripped his wrist and pulled the many into her so that his neck would smash into her elbow. The man took another swing at her, but she ducked and hooked her leg behind his. She grabbed onto his shoulder and pushed him backwards causing him to trip over her leg. The man stumbled backwards, panting and managed to regain his composure to block the first few strikes the girl shot at him. Strike above the head, blocked. Knee to the stomach, blocked. Wrist to the chin, missed. With the strike to the chin the girl took advantage of his disorientation and increased her attack speed. She seemed to be a black-haired blur on the camera. The man she was fighting flew in the air backwards and smashed against a wall. The girl ran up to him and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. She hoisted him over her head and flung him with immense force across the room, sending him crashing throw a brick wall. The girl went to finish him off, walking slowly across the floor.

"Shit!" The camera man cussed and dropped the camera to run and stop the teenager. The man practically jumped down the stairs and grabbed a large stick in his hand. Several men and woman wearing white lab coats ran into to his aid. Two other people picked up the man she had thrown through the wall and hurried him out. The girl turned back to the man who had been filming. Her eyes were now completely golden, even the white parts, with a cat-like slit down the middle. Fangs grew from her mouth and she jumped on his back and started tugging at his hair. By now there were at least 20 people in the room.

A stocky pair of men grabbed the girl by her arms and tried to pull her off the camera man. As the pulled her, she used their strength to flip the camera man onto the floor with her legs. Repositioning herself, in a upright position, still held tightly by the men, she jumped up slightly and kicked them in their groans. There was a sickening crunch heard on the camera and the men rived on the floor in pain. The girl's skin started tuning a pale ash color and her finger nails grew 3 inches instantly. She held the palm of her right hand towards the ceiling and snarled at the people standing around her. 3 down, 17 to go. A glowing orb appeared in her hand, it was a lime-like colour. A tremendous lightning storm was being shot around the room from the palm of her hand. 12 people fell to the floor from the shock.

"It'll destroy us all if it goes any further!" A man dark haired man in a white lab coat shouted. "Some one stop it!" 3 of the 5 remaining people jumped at the girl while her back was turned and tackled her to the floor. One man ran up with a long piece of rope and started wrapping it around her tightly. The girl squirmed to get out but she was tied down. The camera man picked himself off the floor and strutted towards the tied up girl. She was looking at him with golden eyes filled with hatred and fear. He stared at her then began punching and kicking her. The surprising part, she took it. No tears, just a small trail of blood coming out from her mouth.

The young girl looked directly at the camera from when it had been left. The lens cracked when she scowled at it and the video went fuzzy. This time, there wasn't another scene after it.

Angeal and Sephiroth watched parts of the 6 other tapes in the boxes, but none of them had anything to do with the girl. They were on other experiments, none on humans though.

Lazard was waiting for Sephiroth and Genesis in the infirmary. The results of her tests were put on a white screen to help the men look at them better.

"This is incredible!" Lazard pointed to the scan of her brain first. "These brain patterns are off the chart. She's a genius! She might just have the greatest mind on the planet. And her skeletal system is designed to support weights that are more then 1000 times her own body mass." He gawked at the x-rays.

"She's also skilled in combat and knows how to use material," Angeal said.

"This is incredible!" Lazard repeated. "I would like to have a conversation with her when she snaps out of her trance. The nurse took a blood test and it came out saying that she's been heavily tranquilized and sedated."

"When do you think the drugs will wear off?" Sephiroth asked. He himself was slightly curious to what exactly this girl was.

"A day or so. She's been given some medicine that will hopefully reverse the effects faster." Lazard stated. "Did you two find out anything else from the videos?"

"There was only one that revolved around her." Sephiroth leant up against a far wall.

"Towards the end, some one on the take said, _it'll destroy us all if it goes any further!_ It, referring to her. What's bothering me is the _any further _part. I'll show you the clip and you'll see what I mean." Angeal took Lazard to the video room to show him the last clip of the girl.

Sephiroth stayed in the room. The _gears _in his brain rotating quickly as he tried to figured out what all this could mean. Unfortunately, he only ended up with a headache from it. He looked into the girls eyes again. Her expression hadn't changed at all.


	2. Not Human

Chapter2- Not Human

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5:33 am.

The black haired girl that lay on the medical cot jolted violently up to a sitting position. She could move her arms for the first time in 3 years. She flexed her fingers and rolled her shoulders back, trying to get used to the freedom her muscles now had. She rolled her head on back and forth a few times, trying to get all the kinks out. The girl flicked the white blankets off her and inspected her outfit. She felt the leathers on her baggy Capri's and soon found herself inspecting her new undergarments. No more diapers, she was wearing a proper pair of undies. The only reason she had to wear a diaper was because she wasn't allowed to use her own hands with the straightjacket on. That made going to the washroom difficult.

The stood up off the bed but fell to her knees with a thud. She hadn't walked in 3 years either. Her entire body felt weak and heavy to her and she began to move muscles that had remained frozen for a while. Suddenly, and alluring scent filled her nose. She had a sense of smell beyond anything anyone could ever imagine. She wasn't used to the movements she was able to do after so long just yet, so she decided to crawl and find where the smell was coming from.

Leaving the infirmary, she entered the main hallway. It was quite and dark. She hated the light; it also helped that because she was so used to the darkness, she could see clearly in it. On hands and knees she made her way to a large room with many tables and chairs. The cafeteria. The teenager followed her nose all the way to the kitchen and finally tried to regain her balance. She had to steady herself on the counters. Her nostrils lead her to a plate of cookies some one had left on the counter.

As fast as she could, she ate every single crumb left on the plate. Then she threw the plate onto the floor, wanting more. She was starving. After ten minutes of binging on whatever she could find, the girl was finally satisfied and her hunger was no longer bothering her. She washed her face and hands in a nearby sink and looked around at the mess she had made. Dishes, glass, and silverware was littered about. She was beginning to get more of her strength back and she no longer needed to use the walls for support.

Sephiroths room was quite close to the cafeteria. He had heard the sound of dishes breaking. He ran out of his room and saw that many of the younger SOLDIERS had been woken up by the ruckus also. Zack, in his moogle pajama pants came running down the hallway to the café where he met up with Sephiroth. Sephiroth only had his leather pants on, he never really took them off other then to bathe and use the washroom.

"What the hell was that?" Zack caught his breath when reached Sephiroth.

Sephiroth didn't answer him; he just entered the cafeteria to see if he could see the culprit. Whoever was in there was still moving around because the sound of dishes clanking together cold still be heard. The two SOLDIERS crept towards the kitchen as quietly as possible. It was hard for them to see in the dark, but the person inside seemed to be cleaning up the broken dishes. The men could barely make out a silhouette.

Zack flicked on the lights. A flash of red eyes, a flash of white skin, and then the lights all shattered at once.

"Hey! You in there, who are you?" Zack said as he took a step into the kitchen, only to get smacked by an air born wooden ladle. "Ouch…" He rubbed his head.

The girl charged at them without warning in an attempt to make her great escape. She pushed her way past the two men and just when she thought she was home free, Sephiroth's hand grabbed her firmly by the wrist. She felt her pulse racing. All the memories of her abuse pouring into her head like reels of tape. She started panicking. Her breath became shallow and short. Sephiroth hoisted the girl into the air, dangling her by her wrist. She thrashed and tried to kick him away. He just looked at her and waited for her to calm down.

"We're not going to hurt to," Zack said, still rubbing his sore head.

Sephiroth felt the girl stiffen then relax under his grip. He placed her gently back down so her feet were touching the ground again. He still held her wrist tightly incase she tried to run again.

"First off, I'm Zack and this guy next to me is Sephiroth. What's your name?" Zack resumed his cheerful disposition. The girl just blinked at him with expressionless eyes.

"She can't talk," Sephiroth said bluntly.

The girl shifted her gaze to Sephiroth.

Zack cried out in a mixture of something that sounded excited and surprised. "Seph we should take her to Lazard, he's probably up by now anyways."

The girl shot a horrified glace and Zack. "He's not that scary!" Zack smiled.

Zack and Sephiroth lead the girl through the building all the way to Director Lazard's office. She was holding on tightly to Sephiroths arm as they entered the office. She flinched at every sight of movement and only tightened her grip on his arm. Director Lazard stood up from his char and walked up to greet the men and girl. The young lady hid behind Sephiroth, scared half to death of this new man.

"Hello there," Lazard smiled. "It's nice to finally meet you."

The girl quietly sat on the floor behind Sephiroth with her back facing Lazard. She wrapped her arms around her knees and began to slowly rock back and forth. Sephiroth stepped out of the way as Lazard came closer to her. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. He was right above her. Her hands flung in the air automatically to protect her head from the beating she was anticipating.

Lazard frowned. "I'm not going to hurt you." He turned to direct his attention to Sephiroth. "I want you to take care of her till she feels comfortable. She seems to trust you."

"That's not my department," He retorted coldly.

"Well, you've been going on a lot of mission lately and I think a change of pace might be in order."

"I can't do that,"

"Sephiroth, am I not making myself clear enough? You are to look after her." Lazard finished the conversation and went back to his desk.

Sephiroth frowned. Baby sitting was not in his job description. The three of them left the office, with the girl latched onto Sephiroths arm once again.

"I'll see ya later," Zack waved good bye and went back to his room to get prepared for the day.

Sephiroth led the girl back to his room since he and her would be the only two in there, she might be a little more comfortable. Once the two of them were safe and sound in his room, the girl still didn't let go of his arm. He managed to pry himself from her grim and sat her on the bed. Sephiroth put on the rest of his uniform so he wouldn't feel exposed anymore. He sat in a chair that was pressed against his wall and just watched the girl. She stared back at him, blankly.

Sephiroth stood up to stretch from his seat. The girl jumped and bolted out of the room away from Sephiroth. He had startled her. He could hear her bare feet padding down the hallway at a quick pace. Sephiroth sighed and rubbed his temples.

The girl dashed through the building and jumped into a dark room to hide. She looked around the room in horror. The room, or rather, the lab had a table in the middle of it with many computers, testing chambers, test tubes, vials, microscopes and other various research devices. She dropped to the floor, covering her head with her arms and let out a high pitched shriek. Sephiroth felt his blood curdle when he heard the noise. He quickened his pace to the room the girl was in and saw her lying on the floor, screaming at the top of her lungs. Sephiroth bent down to put his hand on her shoulder. Her neck almost snapped as she rapidly turned to face him. In a split second she scuttled away from him, trying not to drag herself on the floor. She backed up into the room more.

Her hand touched something on the ground that caused her to look away from Sephiroth. A syringe was lying on the floor next to her. She shrieked in horror.

"Calm down!" Sephiroth ordered, his patience wearing thin. Sephiroth crept closer to her and extended a hand to her. She heisted to take it, but when she did Sephiroth pulled her to her feet.

She looked up into his eyes. He could see all the torture she had been put through.

"What is your name?" He asked in a voice that seemed to have no warmth in it what so ever.

"T…T…tttt…" She stuttered in a quiet voice. "Ttttt…..Ti…fa."

"Tifa?"

The girl nodded slowly.

"How old are you, Tifa?"

She held up her hands so Sephiroth could see them and stuck out 10 of her fingers, then cross her index fingers to symbolize an addition sign, and put another 9 fingers in the air.

"19?"

Tifa nodded.

"Do you know who did this to you?"

Tifa put her hands to her face and pretended her fingers were glasses. Sephiroth narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out who she meant by it. Most of the Shinra scientists wore glasses. Even Lazard and Scarlet wore glasses. A few Turks wore glasses also.

"Is there anything else you can tell me?"

She nodded. Tifa pretended to type on an invisible computer.

"You want to us a computer?"

She nodded and Sephiroth lead her out of the room to a computer room. He logged her on and she got to work with whatever she was doing. Tifa opened up a word document and began to type as if that's been the only thing she's done in her entire life. When she had finished what she was typing, she motioned for Sephiroth to look at what it said.

_Hello Sephiroth, my name is Tifa Lockhart.  
This place is strange and foreign to me and I would like to know what is going.  
It's scary meeting new people.  
I can't say what the man's name is because speaking it plunges me into a pit of darkness.  
I have never been outside the reactor until now. I was born and raised there.  
It's the only life I've known and grown accustomed to.  
What would you like to know?_

"What did they do to you?" Sephiroth asked her and Tifa began to rapidly type on the computer. For a girl who couldn't talk and had been looked in the dark, she sure was good with electronics.

_My mother and father were used for experimental purposes.  
They used my mother to run tests and research on her unborn baby, me.  
I'm not positive what their objective was, but it was apparently a success.  
They didn't want anyone to know what was going on in the reactor, so they murdered my father.  
But that was only after he had told the towns people what was going on.  
My mother died in child birth.  
They infused my body with materia and some other things.  
I'm not sure what they were exactly, but they were cells from a celestial being.  
Jenova I think it was.  
They picked my parents because of some rare blood line my father had.  
It was said that he was a descendent from a demon of some sort._

"So what does that mean?"

_I'm not human anymore, if I ever was._ Tifa looked at Sephiroth with a sad face.

"That makes two of us. You need to get some rest." Sephiroth brought Tifa back to the infirmary and waited for her to fall asleep. It took a good 20 minutes, but she finally closed her eyes.

After she passed out, Sephiroth went to go report what he had found out to Lazard.

"I see, so she typed all that too you?" Lazard stroked his chin.

Sephiroth nodded. "She's still quite afraid of everything. She accidently wandered into one of the labs and had a mental breakdown."

"Is there anything that might make her come out of her shell more?"

"Hard to tell, she's constantly in fear of her surroundings."

"When she wakes up; make sure you're there."

Sephiroth sighed and left the room. He wandered down to the hall and stopped to watch one of the Cadets training sessions. That was it! He'd dress her up as a cadet so no one would recognize her and stick her in a class. Perhaps remembering her strength would make her fear things less.

"Yo! Sephiroth! How is she?" Zack walked up to him casually.

"I'm going to put her in one of the classes."

"WHAT?! You've gone completely mental! Not only is she a GIRL but she if afraid of everything," Zack snapped back.

"I think your underestimating her, she's a lot smarter then you think Zack."

* * *

_A/n: Is the plot moving to quickly? What do you guys think? Please read and review._


	3. A Challenge

Chapter 3- A Challenge (R&R Plz)

"All you have to do is defeat the enemy that will appear in the room." Sephiroth pushed the young girl into one of the vacant training rooms and headed up to the control room.

Tifa turned around to face the now locked and sealed door and began it pound on it with her fists. After she realized that no one was going to let her out of the room, she turned to examine her surroundings, an empty room with many wires. Sephiroth had found her some regular SOLDEIR Cadet cloths to put on while she was training. He had even found her a sword to use, though he was a little hesitant to letting her wield such a weapon.

The room suddenly changed into a lovely yellow meadow with a few trees. Tifa felt the warm breeze on her face, her first time feeling the wind.

"Alright Tifa, just defeat the enemy." Sephiroth hit a large button on the control panel to start the girl with a level 5 training mission.

Before her enemy had a chance to fully load, Tifa shot the sword right into the enemy's chest without even thinking.

"Very good, let's try something a little harder." It was no shock to him that a simple level 5 would be taken down so easily by her, but the sheer sped she had done it at was. He increased the level to 10.

Tifa picked up her sword just as a 3 men dressed in Shinra gear like her appeared. She attempted to use the same technique as before on the closet one to her, but the enemy blocked it with his own sword. Her sword clattered to the floor, causing her to loose her focus. 1 of the SOLDIERS dashed towards her with his sword outstretched towards her direction. She stepped out of his way, grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back doing so. She popped out his shoulder and stuck him with his own sword. This caused the enemy to disappear, leaving 2 more in the room. They both charged at her. Tifa ducked and they both hit each other with their own swords.

"Still too easy," Sephiroth sighed as he increased the level another 10 intervals.

Tifa kicked the sword to the side, deciding it was only in her way. A large monster spawned right before her eyes. It had blue skin and red horns, so of like a behemoth type creature. Tifa narrowed her eyes at it and waited for it to make his first move. It roared and took a swipe at her. She did a back handspring to get out of the way of its enormous claws. She clenched her fists and ran strait for the monster. Just as it attempted to swipe her again, she did a sort of side ways jump and latched herself on its arm. Hold the arm steady with one hand; Tifa used her free hand to bring her other hand smashing down on its elbow, hearing the sickening sound of breaking bones. The creature howled in pain and tried to bite Tifa. She moved out of the way quickly and delivered several swift punches to its stomach. She gave it a roundhouse kick to the chest and sent it flying across the room.

Sephiroth was somewhat impressed now, but she'd have to get a lot higher then level 20 to actually get an ounce of praise.

"Sephiroth, what are you doing here?" Said Genesis, as he and the other 2 remaining first Class SOLDIERS walked into the room.

Sephiroth motioned towards the training chamber. Tifa was up against 5 strong enemies dress in Shinra clothing.

"Sephiroth you're insane! She can't handle that many!" Zack pressed his face to the glass.

"Just watch," He replied coldly.

"She? You didn't put the girl in there did you?" Angeal asked, slightly irritated.

"Geez, she's doing well. What level do you have her on?" Genesis spoke.

"40…" Sephiroth said in an emotionless voice.

"40? You sure about that? Seems like she fighting them quite easily." Zack went over to check the monitor to see if his comrade was bluffing or not. "She's already at half my level!" Zack began tugging on his hair after seeing the girl finish off the enemies as if she were merely swatting flies.

"We'll stop when they're too hard for you." Sephiroth spoke into the intercom to Tifa. "45." He announced to the men in the room.

This time, Tifa didn't see the creature right away. She heard no sounds in the meadow, other then the breeze causing her hair to flutter in her ears. She sat down in the long grass cross legged, one hand on her knee and the other holding two fingers to her forehead.

"What the hell is she doing?" Genesis interrogated.

"It looks like she's meditating…" Angeal replied in an unsure tone.

Tifa slowed her breathing and remained completely silent. She visualized the entire field and waited for the sound of her foe. She heard the slightly sound of grass being stepped on at the other end of the meadow. Tifa shot up from her seat and ran quickly but silently towards where she had heard the sound. Another behemoth type creature, only this one looked a lot stronger. She sailed into combat with an upper cut to the jaw. Tifa wasn't quick enough to get out of its way when it slashed her. It wasn't a deep cut, but there was a bit of blood peaking through the tears in her sleeve. She shook her arm out and ignored the pain. She jumped backwards, gaining a bit of distance between her and her foe. She was angry now, it had actually scratched her.

Tifa lowered her head slightly with her long black hair dropping in front of her face. She had a somewhat evil grin on her face. The girl balled her fists in front of her, regaining a battle stance. She looked at the monster again. Her eyes were a narrow golden slit again. The monster pounded it's was over to her. It took a swipe at her again but by the time its claw was about to collide with her again, she had disappeared. Tifa grabbed it by its tail and spun it around in a circle as if she were simply twirling a baton. She threw it up in the air with little effort and punched it right in the face, sending the thing flying across the room just like she had done with the first one.

The creature stood up again but had no reaction time. If was in front of it in a split second, pounding its face in and breaking all of its bones. Finally, the creature had dispersed.

Sephiroth skipped a large interval and went straight to level 65. The four men were silent as the gawked at her strength.

There, standing in the middle the meadow, was the largest thing Tifa had ever seen. A monster, 20 stories tall stood in front of her. Tifa snarled at it as it simply analyzed her with its big red eyes. Her finger nails grew about 3 inches, a pair of bone and skin wings sprouted from her back, fangs protruded their way out from her upper jaw, and her skin turning a pale ash cooler. Black horizontal scars on either side of her mouth appeared and connected with two vertical black scars trailing down her cheeks. Tifa's hair formed a black mane around her face and down her back.

Before the men got a good look at Tifa, a dark purple, almost black aura filled the training room and shattered all the windows that were set up for other people to view the training sessions. Class shattered on the crowd of Cadets that had been watching her train for a little while, their faces in shock. The four men in the control room had been knocked to the floor from the impact and began to stand up again and shake off all the glass.

They looked back into the training room to see what had happened. Tifa was the only one in the training room. She was panting with both hands and one knee on the floor, her hair concealing her expression.

"No more!" Zack demanded.

"She seems to have a lot of potential, perhaps if she was to train more, she might even pass Zack." Angeal interjected.

"That's not funny Angeal," Zack scowled.

"It's probably best that we don't tell the other Cadets that she's female. They might not like being shown up by a girl." Genesis said thoughtfully as his eyes remained fixated on the girl crouching in the middle of the training room. "She doesn't look like a girl with the SOLDIER equipment on. In fact, I didn't even know she was a girl when I first saw her."

Sephiroths eyes remained glued to the girl. Something had happened right before everything turned black for a moment but he couldn't figure it out. Even the cameras hadn't picked it up.

Zack dashed out of the room to go check on Tifa when he came to an abrupt halt in front of one of his best pals, a young blonde haired boy whose head seemed to resemble a chocobo in its spiky fashion that it was always in.

"Zack, who was that?" The young boys Mako blue eyes meeting Zacks Mako blue eyes.

"Hey Cloud, that's… um… a new recruit," Zack scratched the back of his head nervously. "We were just doing a placement test to find out where _he _should start training." Zack pushed passed Cloud and ran to the training room door. To his surprise, the solid metal door had crumpled against the opposite wall. Zack ran up behind Tifa who was still kneeling on the floor.

"Tifa…?" He reached out to crab her shoulder.

Tifa let out a hacking cough. Blood spilled out of her mouth and onto the floor. She stood up and turned to face Zack, her hair obstructing his view of her eyes.

"You alright…?"

Tifa nodded slightly, and then left the completely demolished training room and Zack behind, the occasional drop of blood from the cuts on her arm hitting the floor as she walked.

"That was amazing!" Cloud ran up to the mysterious SOLDIER. "I'm Cloud Strife by the way."

Tifa paused then nodded to him, nobody being able to see her eyes. She walked away without saying anything.

"It's nice to meet you too…" Cloud huffed under his breath.

"Don't take it personally man, he can't talk." Zack threw an arm over Cloud shoulder.

***

Tifa was back in the infirmary, having her wounds tended to. She was resting on a bed with the nurse had began to wrap bandages tightly around her arm.

Sephiroth walked into the infirmary with a frown on his face. Tifa blinked at him.

"That went well…" He attempted to start a conversation once the nurse had left. Tifa had a blank expression on her face which annoyed him because he was so used to being able to read peoples thoughts by the look of their faces. She hopped off the bed and stood in front of Sephiroth.

"Seph-ir-oth… " Tifa tried to sound out his name.

"So you **are** able to talk, I thought so."

Tifa coughed and cleared her throat. "Well, I'm not an idiot if that's what you were implying." She crossed her arms across her chest.

Sephiroth's mouth hung open slightly in shock at her proficiency. "That's not what I meant."

"I've always been able to talk, just been too scared to." She shifted her weight to her left foot.

"Most people are afraid of me, why do I not scare you?"

"Right back at you," Tifa shrugged.

"Touché."

A young cadet walked into the infirmary quickly and stood at attention when he locked eyes with his superior officer. "Sir, the Director would like to see you and uh…" His eyes trailed off to Tifa's. "The new recruit." Then the cadet bowed and left the room.

"This isn't about the training room is it?" Tifa began to bite her fingernails from anxiety.


	4. An Old Legend

Chapter 4- An Old Legend

* * *

I sit in solemn silence on a dull dark dock  
in a penitential prison with a life long lock  
awaiting the sensation of a short sharp shock  
from a chipping choppy chopper on a big black block

_Big… black… block… _Tifa thought to herself. Lost in her own world she didn't notice that everyone in the cafeteria was staring at her… or him rather since all of them thought she was a man. SOLDIER didn't let in women. She tapped out the words to the poem with her fork. Lazard had let her train with the other cadets, however, she would train under Sephiroth and no one was supposed to know she was a girl. Only the four first class SOLDIERS, the Infirmary Nurse, and Lazard knew. Honestly, she didn't really give a damn. After the major training that she had gone through in the morning she was much less skittish. However, though enemies seemed to be no problem, whenever a person got close to her she'd cringe away. Still she'd only talk to Sephiroth on the condition that they were alone.

"That's the new recruit," a young 3rd class SOLDIER whispered to his table.

"I watched him defeat a level 65 monster in under 10 seconds!" Another Cadet said.

"Yea and he totally destroyed that training room. I hear Lazard was pretty pissed when he heard that the entire room was practically destroyed," a third young man said.

_Big. Black. Block. Big. Black. Block. Big. Black. Block. Big. Black. Block. Big. Black. Block. Big. Black. Block. Big. Black. Block. Big. Black. Block. _Tifa continued to tap out the beat, this time adding a spoon to accompany the fork.

"I heard that he refuses to cut his hair too," another young man interjected.

"Why should he have to? Sephiroth's hair is pretty damn long too."

"Sephiroth's hair doesn't make him look like a chick! This new guy doesn't even look like he's hit puberty! Hair passed his ass for him doesn't seem all that intimidating, especially if Sephiroth's taking him under his wing."

"That lucky son of a bitch! He just got here!"

_Big. Black. Block. _Tifa got bored then slammed her eating utensils on her empty tray and stood up to stretch. She'd really have to get used to being able to move again. Every time she stood still it reminded her of lying on the cold, hard concrete floor back in the reactor. Tifa grabbed her empty tray and placed it on the garbage can where the other SOLDIERS had put theirs.

_I need a male name… _she thought to herself. _…Vincent….that's a good name. Vincent Valentine. _She smirked internally as she thought about how clever she was, though she'd have to tell Sephiroth that that was her new nickname.

Sephiroth had finished his paper work and was wandering down the hallway when he noticed an odd looking SOLDIER. It took him a moment to realize that it was Tifa. He stopped and looked at her, wondering silently if she would be talking to him anytime soon. She was interesting though. Sephiroth noticed that she seemed to adapt quickly to any situation, though there were some personality quirks that would probably take years to fix like her fears of science labs, people, etc. Heck there was probably a whole list of things she was still afraid of but she seemed to be attempting to keep them in check unless confronted head on with them.

"Vincent Valentine," She stopped in front of him, her long raven hair draped in front of her face, covering her eyes like a wedding veil.

Sephiroth arched an eyebrow at her in confusion.

"That's my nick name," She said in a calm voice, her fingers spoke otherwise the way she was nervously twisting them around the material of her SOLDIER pants.

Sephiroth nodded. "Lazard is sending me on a mission to Wutai. I'll be back in a few days after the conflict is resolved. You are to report to the east gym for your first official training."

"You're leaving me…?" Tifa's voice seemed to break apart slightly as she spoke, her tone said and depressed.

"I'll be back in a few days, just stay out of trouble." He patted the young girl on the top of her head.

"Why can't I come with you?" She flicked her head to the side to shake away the hair from her face. He saw that she looked like she was about to cry.

"Because you need more practice before you go out on an official mission; next time perhaps."

Sephiroth watched the sadness leave her eyes and almost instantaneously get replaced by a sort of distant and detached gleam. She lowered her head and navigated around him to make her way to the east gym. Along the walk she encountered Angeal waiting for her in front of the gym doors.

"I noticed you didn't like to use a sword so I found you these," Angeal held up a pair of gold metal gauntlets. "I found them in the storage room."

Tifa picked one up and carefully examined it. The golden exterior was sturdy and the inside was comfortably lined with leather. She put it on and pulled it up to the middle of her upper arm, doing the same with the other. There was a sound of leather moving when she flexed her fingers and opened and closed her hands.

"Thanks…" She said in as low of voice as she possibly could, trying desperately to imitate a male voice.

"Is there a name that goes with that voice?" Angeal tried to stifle a laugh.

"Vincent Valentine," She replied coolly.

"Alright, let's register you," He motioned for her to follow him as he pushed open the double doors to reveal a large empty room with tile floors and concrete walls. There were about 30 young cadets all in uniform lined up, each and every one of them holding a standard type of sword. The only person that stood out was a man holding a clipboard in front of the young men. His eyes were fixed on Tifa, looking slightly intrigued and slightly annoyed by the fact that she needed a first class SOLDIER to escort her in. He mentally registered her as a very young man as his eyes trailed over her.

"Young Mr. Valentine will be joining your class. He has not had any previous military training before," Angeal spoke out loud to the instructor. Tifa sighed in irritation at his openness; she didn't want to draw attention to her being. Angel turned and smirked towards Tifa who returned with a scowl. He walked out of the gym seemingly in a cheerful mood, apparently some one else's discomfort amuses him.

When the doors closed behind Angeal, the Instructor directed his attention towards Tifa. "Valentine, don't be expecting to get special treatment from me. While you are in my class you will do what you're told without question or complaint. If you are so much as 1 millisecond late for my class, you will spend the following three days scrubbing toilets!"

Too long she had been told what to do, her spirit had been broken down many times before, if that bone headed instructor thought he could just walk all over her, he had another thing coming. She certainly wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of upsetting her. With the same detached look in her eyes and on her face, she took her place at the end of the line. She felt all eyes in the room staring at her. Then she noticed a certain pair of Mako blue eyes staring at her. Tifa recognized the Chocobo-headed boy standing next to her at the end of the line.

"Now, turn to the person next to and say hello, they'll be your partner for the next few weeks." The instructor said, still glowering at Tifa. "Find a spot on the floor and number yourself 1 and 2. Partner 1 with be performing offensive attacks while partner 2 with be performing evasive and defensive attacks."

"I'll be partner 1," the spiky Chocobo whispered.

"Strife!" The instructor snarled. "Since you feel you don't need to listen to my instructions why don't you and Valentine demonstrate for the class."

The other cadets snickered as Tifa and Cloud walked cautiously to the center of the gym. Cloud readied his sword while his partner got into a sturdy left Zenki Baldock _(Martial arts stance with leg and arm forward, knees slightly bent, and right hand close to face.) _

Cloud took a swipe forward with his sword; Tifa blocked it with her gauntleted arm. He drew his sword back and made several more swipes at his partner. Tifa blocked each one with each.

"That was pathetic Strife!" The instructor snarled, snatching the sword out of Clouds hand and shooing him back towards the line of students. "Valentine, you're now going to perform offensive attacks."

Tifa stood still; arrogant people were like the scum of society. Right then and there, she knew she'd only butt heads with this guy. Sure he was the instructor, but that gave him no right to be a total jack ass to his students. Her attention drifted towards the now sulking Cloud at the end of the line. She gave him a disgusted look that was directed towards the instructor. Cloud's face seemed to brighten up a bit.

"Valentine!" The instructor snarled.

Tifa sighed and focused her attention towards the repulsive man in front of her. He readied his sword as his student approached him. Tifa walked at an even pace. She stopped right in front of him and clapped her hand together, catching his sword in between. Effortlessly she bent the sword backwards in the direction of the instructor. This caught the instructor off guard which gave Tifa the opportune moment to attack. She flicked him in the forehead which sent him stumbling backwards over his feet. When the instructor regained his composure he glowered at Tifa.

"Class dismissed!" He said as he threw the unusable sword to Cloud. The instructor stormed out of the gym followed by many of the other cadets.

Tifa and Cloud remained in the gym. She held out a hand and Cloud gave her the sword. With one swift flick, Tifa straightened the sword back to its former glory, and then handed it back to its owner.

"Thanks," He seemed to have a some what shy personality. Tifa nodded in response.

The two walked out of the gym in silence only to get stopped by Zack.

"Yo, Cloud, how did training go?" He abruptly came to a halt when he saw Tifa walking beside him. "Uh… hey?"

"Heya Zack," Cloud said timidly.

"I see you two finally officially met… " He scratched the back of his neck nervously, unsure of what to say.

"We're partners, um," Cloud looked at Tifa in search of a name.

"…Vincent…" She replied emotionlessly.

"Yea, Vincent and I."

"…Vincent…?" Zack asked awkwardly.

"…yea…" Tifa sighed from boredom; he was truly wasting her time.

"Well… I guess we should head back to the mess hall… for dinner..." Zack stammered. Then the three of them did just that.

During dinner, Tifa said nothing while Cloud and Zack talked up a storm about where they came from. She was only listening to bits and pieces of the conversation that her mind registered as interesting. Her ears perked up when their conversation changed focus to something she was quite familiar with.

"How is Neibelheim this time of the year?" Zack asked Cloud.

"I haven't been back to that place since I was little. But I remember it being pretty damn cold during these months."

"Huh, did you move or something?"

"Yea, I moved to Midgar because not many other people wanted to live in Neibelheim anymore."

"Why's that?"

"Legend has it that there was some sort of monster born and raised inside the Mako Reactor. It all started when the mayor's wife vanished without a trace. Then Mayor Lockhart seemed to act funny, as if he was hiding something. Soon he too went missing without a trace. A few years later, at night, when people were sleeping, the only sounds you could hear were of screaming coming from inside the reactor. People who were brave enough to check out the reactor disappeared. That's about when everyone started to abandon the town and move else were. To this day, anyone who goes into the reactor doesn't come out. Nobody's ever seen the monster, but people say it's a hideous beast with sharp teeth and claws that could effortlessly rip through flesh," Cloud said, using his hands to emphasize certain parts of speech while he spoke.

Tifa's hand twitched slightly underneath the table.

"Wow, that sounds… uh… spooky. What do you think about the legend?" Zack asked Cloud.

"I believe it. I remember everything that happened while I was still living there. My parents were among the few people who went to check out the reactor," Cloud lowered his head to hide his face from Zack. "It's part of the reason why I joined SOLDIER, to avenge everyone who died in Neibelheim by slaying the monstrosity! Damn it! Damn it to hell! I lost my entire family because of it! Not just me, but many other families. Anyone who came close to that forsaken reactor vanished! Even children as young as 5!" Cloud slammed his fist on the table but didn't look up.

Zack's gaze shifted towards Tifa since he noticed that she wasn't moving anymore. It looked almost as if she had stopped breathing too she was so still. Tifa was staring off in the distance, eyes cold and filled with hate, with a face that was so straight and motionless it could've been carved out of stone. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of silence amongst the three of them, Cloud looked up to. Both Zack and Cloud's gaze trailed off to stare at Tifa.

Tifa had fought so hard not to explode right then and there. The whole time Cloud was telling his story, she had been gradually biting down harder and harder on her lower lip. Blood began to trickle down from her mouth now that she had broken through skin.

"Vincent?" Zack asked, though he already had an idea of what was going through her head. Without a word Tifa got up and left, she didn't know where she was going to go just as long as it was somewhere secluded where she could freak out without anyone catching her.

"What was that about?" Cloud looked at Zack when Tifa was out of earshot.

"I think you brought up some bad memories. He grew up in Neibelheim too."

* * *

**_A/n: Another chapter done! Hurray! I'm starting Ch_****_apter 5 tonight. It should be up in a couple of days. Thanks for the review Midnight Blue08! It was appreciated! :D _**


	5. The Other Side

Chapter 5- The Other Side

* * *

"LIES! ALL LIES!" Tifa had wandered down the hall and found an abandoned bathroom. She was shouting as she kicked in the stall doors.

_Calm down, you're overreacting. _A certain demons voice spoke calmly in her head.

"Oh, so suddenly you're the voice of reason Chaos?! My, have our roles switched that much over the past years?" She shouted in the mirror, not seeing her own reflection, but the image of the demon inside of her.

_Well we can't both have a meltdown now can we? That would be the end of everything._

"Shut the hell up! We may share a body, but you don't understand anything that I go through. While you only come out when I'm going to die, I'm the one taking all the damage and feeling all the pain!"

_That's not true; I offer my two cents when I feel like it._

"It's your fault I'm stuck in this mess. You're the reason why my like has sucked!"

_Not really, it was your precious parents that gave you up in the name of money and science._

"Weather or not they gave me up; I would've still been stuck with your nagging voice in my head every time I get extremely upset."

_Your emotions are my gateway to freedom. I can't help myself. This prison of flesh and blood offers no perks or entertainment. Besides, I haven't had a conversation with you in three years. Is this how you treat all your old friends? Oh, that's right; you still blame me for not having any. You truly are pathetic, and a person with your IQ should know that playing the blame game gets you no where._

Tifa smashed the mirror into thousands of tiny pieces. She'd have to settle down if she wanted Chaos to shut up.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Tifa dropped to her knees on the bathroom floor and held her head tightly between her hands. She continued to scream on the floor.

"Hello…?" The bathroom door creaked open as a man with dark hair wearing a white lab coat entered the bathroom cautiously. Angeal was behind him.

Tifa's eyes widened in horror at the man standing in front of her. She half scuttled and and half crawled to get away from him, screaming because of a completely different reason now. She soon found herself as far away from him as the room would allow, her back tightly pressed again the tiled wall.

"Gast…" Angeal began to speak.

_It's show time!_

Tifa began to feel her canines starting to grow in length; she cringed in pain as they came in contact with her sore lower lip. Her nails began to grow and her eyes shifted from the flaming crimson to the slit pupil gold.

"Gast, get out!" Angeal pushed the man in the white lab coat out the bathroom door and away from Tifa. He slowly approached her and knelt down to meet her at eye level. Her eyes would flicker back and fourth from their normal red colour to brilliant gold and then back again. He could tell she was trying to fight the transformation as hard as she could. Her one hand had completely transformed and she was using the other to restrain it. Tifa was squirming against the wall and floor. Her arm began to bleed from the other hand digging its nails in too deep while trying to hold it back. "Fight It…" Angeal said as he put a hand on her shoulder. She cried out in agony as a bony set of wings erupted from her back. Both her hands were fully transformed now but she still had a little bit of control over them and began thrashing at the tiled floors so she wouldn't hurt Angeal.

"Let me out…" A demonic hiss escaped from Tifa's lips, though she hadn't really been the one to say it. Her eyes continued to alternate, the switching back to red grew less frequent and for shorter amounts of time.

Tifa screamed again when she felt her internal organs rearranging themselves to suit her demonic form better. Finally the transformation was complete and she… or Chaos rather, booted Angeal in the chest to get him away from _them. _Angeal tumbled backwards on the floor and landed on his back. Chaos jumped on top of him and readied a claw to slice Angeal in half.

"Tifa…I know you can hear me. Come back to the surface. Fight it." Angeal repeated staring up into Chaos' eyes. Chaos' features softened as Tifa began to regain control. She cried in pain when her body returned to normal. A stray tear fell and hit the floor right next to Angeal's ear. Her whole body went limp and fell one Angeals.

Tifa's eyes opened slowly. Her head felt as if it had been hit by a train. Her crimson eyes scanned her surroundings. Back in the infirmary… she was definitely getting tired of that place. The needles and the screens and the IVs and the …whiteness. She hated that color. She looked to her left and almost jumped out of her skin. She hadn't noticed until that moment that Sephiroth was sleeping in the chair next to her bed. He'd come back! Tifa silently rejoiced his return.

"Any word on the patient?" A male's voice on the other side of the infirmary made Tifa turn her head.

"Not yet Professor Gast. You can have a look if you want though," The nurse replied.

Tifa just knew they were talking about her. As an automatic reaction she rolled her body in Sephiroth's direction, as silently and quickly as possible she fell on the floor to hide herself underneath the hospital bed. She had hit Sephiroth's knee by accident in the process causing him to awake from his slumber.

"Hm, where did the patient go?" Professor Gast asked as he approached Sephiroth.

Sephiroth caught a glimpse of Tifa's shoe barely sticking out from underneath the white blankets and shrugged. "Bathroom?"

"Alright then, I guess I'll come back later." With that, the dark haired man in the white coat left the infirmary.

Tifa poked her head out from underneath the bead slightly when the sound of the man's footsteps disappeared. She looked around nervously and finally locked eyes with Sephiroths who had his eyebrow raised at her. She forced a nervous laugh out as she crawled out from under the bed. Tifa quietly sat on the bed facing Sephiroth. He could see a mixture of fear and hate within her eyes for the man in the white lab coat. She brought her knees to her chest and turned away from him.

"When did you get back?" She asked quietly.

"Three hours ago, while you were still passed out."

"I was passed out for two days?" Tifa lowered her head at the thought of her weakness.

"No, just one. I came back early." Sephiroth analyzed her from his seat but was unable to figure out what she was thinking. He was pretty good at reading people, but the girl in front of him proved to be a new challenge. Though he'd never say it out loud, she fascinated him. Sephiroth was never one to show pity or remorse, but something about her hit a nerve inside of him that reminded him of himself. He wanted to know more about her. All he knew about her was what she had typed up, her test results, and the lone video of her captivity in the reactor, all of which was pretty basic. She didn't seem like the person to let her emotions show when around people, like himself. Oh, so much like himself.

"Stop staring at me like that," She said after a few moments of silence without even looking at him.

"Like what?"

"Like I'm crazy, I don't like it."

"Excuse me?"

"You obviously think I'm crazy, why else would you be sitting here after what happened?"

"I don't think you're crazy, and I don't know what happened. I came here and took a nap."

"So nobody told you…?"

"Do you really think I'm the type for gossip?"

"Well…uh… no but… I just assumed…" Tifa stammered, wriggling strands of heir between her fingers.

"Well, are you going to tell me what exactly did happen?"

"I needed to get a grip over myself before something bad happened… but then a man in a white lab coat and Angeal interrupted me… I used up all my energy trying to hold it back..."

"And you react excessively every time you see someone wearing a white lab coat?" Sephiroth waited patiently for her to muster up enough courage to speak.

Tifa turned away from Sephiroth and lifted up the back of her shirt. Sephiroth noticed just how thin she really was. Aside from the protruding bones on her back, there were hand shaped bruises all across her skin. Dark pink scars stretched across her shoulder blades and all the way down to her lower back. There were healing red marks in the shape of a belt over top of the scars. She pulled her shirt back down and turned to face him again. Her eyes filled with sadness as she spoke. "Wouldn't you?"

Sephiroth's eyes searched her face. He could clearly see the a faint bruise on her cheek as well as red hand marks around her neck like someone had attempted to strangle her.

_19 years of that?_ Sephiroth thought to himself. Nobody deserves that.

"The people in the white coats here aren't going to hurt you." He said, not sure what else to say.

Tifa said nothing, just hid her face so that he couldn't see her pain anymore. "Why do you care if they scare me or not..?" She sounded on the verge of tears.

The question hit Sephiroth like a cement wall, making him get the wind knocked out of him mentally.

"I…I…I don't know how to handle it…" Tifa began to sniffle.

"Handle what…?" Sephiroth leaned forward so he could hear her quiet voice better.

"People being nice…" Tears began to fall to the floor silently.

Sephiroth put his hand on her shoulder. He had never been good at trying to comfort people, most people didn't really come to him with their problems, and he was alright with that.

"There's no blood… but it hurts so much… I don't want to be alone anymore…" Tifa said in such a soft voice that Sephiroth had to strain his ears to hear her. She clenched her hands and started shaking as her sobs became louder and more frequent. Without warning, Tifa threw herself forward into his arms and buried her face deeply in his chest. All of Sephiroth's muscles stiffened at once, the gears in his mind whirring quicker then ever, he didn't know what he should do. Try to soothe her? Push her away? Knock her out and hide? He raised his hand to pat her on the back. Tifa gripped tightly onto his uniform, expecting a beating. She held her breath then sighed in relief as he simply patted her.

She felt his discomfort and backed away from him, keeping her head down. Sephiroth stood up from the chair and stared at her in silence. He was quite a bit taller then her, she was barely 5'6" and he was 6'1", so he pretty much towered over her.

"Sorry…" She mumbled.

Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow at the young girl. "We'll start are training after dinner. Go get something to eat then report to the class you were assigned to."

"Yes sir," Tifa just wanted to disappear. To show such weakness was foolish. She walked off leaving Sephiroth alone. Sephiroth went to his room, no doubt to sleep while Tifa went to find some food. It was lunch time already. She grabbed a tray and filled it up with food. There were no empty tables to sit at, so she chose to sit at the other end of the table where Zack, Cloud and a few other Cadets were eating. Tifa kept her head down and ate silently, entering her own world where she usually went to escape her current situations.

"Yo! Vincent!" Zack gave Tifa a noogie, breaking her unwillingly free of her dream world. If she hadn't been sitting down, she would've jumped twenty feet in the air. All the people at the opposite end of the table had scooted down to sit next to her. Cloud, Zack and a few unfamiliar boys were staring at her intently.

"What do you want?" She said coldly, something about Zack got under her skin. He was so outgoing, courageous, and cheerful. She envied that about him.

"Nothing man, just thought you looked lonely and could use some company. It's not easy being new." Zack said honestly.

"I hear you showed up Instructor Morrison," One of the guys said.

"You've got balls dude!" Another unfamiliar cadet said.

"You should've seen it! Vincent bent the sword all the way back and just flicked him on the forehead!" Cloud said excitedly.

"Holy hell, as cool as that sounds, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes dude!" The first unknown guy spoke again.

"Instructor Morrison picks one person to single out and… break down, in a sense. I think you've just moved yourself up to number one on his list." Zack joked.

"Just ask Cloud about that, he knows all about it," The second unknown person elbowed Cloud in the stomach.

"Shut up Kunsell!" Cloud play punched him in the shoulder.

Sephiroth left his room, stretching and yawning. He'd been out cold for a number of hours. No doubt he'd missed dinner so he went directly to one of the private training rooms used by First Class SOLDIERS and their apprentices. This training room wasn't used for virtual missions but more for combat training, weight lifting, running, etc. He stopped when he was inside the room, cloaked by shadows, and watched as his protégé warmed up.

Tifa stood up on her toes and reached towards the ceiling with her hands. She bent down to touch her toes while keep straight legs. She stood up again and bent over backwards so that her hands were on the floor, then she kicked her feet in the air and landed back on her feet. She stretched her arms, then her wrists, then finally her legs. Sephiroth walked up to her in silence.

"Let's start with basic sparring." He said emotionlessly. "No weapons."

"Traditional or modern?"

"What?"

"You know, traditional sparring as in the way it was done thousands of years ago or modern with street wise twists?" She looked at him as if it were obvious.

"How about modern…?" He scratched his head.

Tifa punched him in his chest, knocking the wind out of him. She was defiantly a hell of a lot stronger then she looked. "Sorry! I thought that we were starting."

Sephiroth regained his composure and positioned himself in a battle stance. Tifa positioned herself in **kokutsu-dachi** (back stance), putting 85% of her overall body weight on her back leg. She held her hands tightly in front of her face to quickly react to whatever he was about to throw at her. Sephiroth came flying forward with punch to the head. Tifa did an **ude-uke** (middle block) with her left arm, gripped onto her opponents wrist and pulled him forward right into her **empi-uchi. **(Elbow Strike) He moved his leg behind hers and caused her to fall backwards. She somersaulted backwards on the floor then stood up again. She ran forward and executed a **mae-geri **(Front Kick) to Sephiroth's jaw. Taking advantage of him being momentarily stunned, she spun around to do a **mawashi-geri **(roundhouse kick) to his abdomen. He caught her foot just before impact and sent her spinning on the floor. He charge at her and threw her up in the air by her collar. Pushing off as hard from the ground as he could, Sephiroth kicked her in the stomach and sent her flying through the air. She pushed off the wall and forced a **teisho-uci **(Heel hand strike) to Sephiroth's nose. He skidded backwards on the floor then ran in for another attempt at landing a punch.

A faint smile appeared on her face as she was fighting. Tifa seemed to be enjoying using her martial arts. After hand to hand sparring, they moved on to fist weapons, and finally to swords. They spent 5 hours in the training room that night.

Tifa was crouching on the floor, regaining her breath and energy. Sephiroth was panting a bit, but not as heavily as she was. He was used to much longer fights against more then one combatants. However, she managed to leave a mark on him, something that would seem impossible to anyone else. No one had ever so much as made him bruise before, and yet he was standing there with a bloody nose caused by a girl a good 10 years younger then him. On the other hand, he hadn't left so much as a scratch on her. Sure he'd come inconstant with her, but there was no sign of any sort of damage, though he had been holding back a little. It wouldn't look very good on his part if she spent the next few weeks in a coma with all her limbs broken.

"Who taught you how to fight?" He finally spoke.

"I started reading about when I was little. When I was locked in my cell I practiced it, it gave me hope. The more I practiced the better I got until eventually I could take on full grown men without even blinking." She looked over towards him.

"You should get some more rest, you look pretty tired," Sephiroth said. He wasn't a person to just hand out praise.

"Please don't send me back to the infirmary!" Tifa begged, standing up and striding towards Sephiroth.

"There aren't any extra rooms available." His eyes scanning her face.

"Then I'll sleep on the floor in your room! Just don't send me back to the infirmary!" Her eyes filled with fear. "I won't take up much space. I'll keep quiet! If you have a closet, I'll-"

Sephiroth held up his hand to stop her from continuing, making her flinch slightly. "I'll find a cot for you to sleep on." With that, the two of them retrieved a extra cot, some blankets, and a pillow for her. They wheeled it all the way to Sephiroth's dorm and slid it in the corner. In his bathroom, Tifa changed into a pair of makeshift pajamas consisting of a pair of Sephiroth's unused sweat pants and a white t-shirt. Sephiroth on the other hand just stripped down while she was in the washroom to his pants, the same sleepwear he always used.

Tifa exited the bathroom and looked at Sephiroth in an odd way, not because he was half naked, but rather the cloths he had provided for her. She tugged the shirt outwards stretching to almost three times her body size. She let it go and the hem came down to just above her knees. She had rolled up the sweatpants about a half a dozen times but they still seemed to long.

"You're too tall," She mockingly scowled.

"No, you're just short." He retorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I am not; I'm above the average height for most women for your information!" She imitated him by also folding her arms.

"Whatever you say," He shrugged as he watched her get under her blankets on the cot. He turned off the lights and crawled into his own bed. He rolled over trying to get comfortable. When he heard no noise in the room other then his own breathing, he opened his eyes slightly to catch a glimpse of his new roommate. Two glowing crimson eyes were starring at him from the far corner of his room. He closed his eyes and pretended not to notice, but the harder he tried to ignore it, the more it agitated him. He opened his eyes again to see if she was still watching him, he wasn't surprised to see that she was. However, he was surprised to see how close the glowing pair of irises had gotten without him even noticing. By now, Sephiroth's eyes had adjusted to the darkness and could see a little better. She was literally a foot away from his face, kneeling at the side of his bed. Tifa could automatically see in the darkness, being consumed in it most of her life had given her that advantage.

"What now?" His patience was wearing thin; he just wanted to go to sleep.

"I…I… don't like the dark… can I sleep with you?" She nibbled on her lower lip as she waited anxiously for his answer.

He was pretty much dumbstruck by her question. She was the hardest person to predict. Just when he thought there would be no more surprises, she constantly surprised him with more surprises. One moment fighting a level 65 monster and showing up Military Instructors to hiding underneath a beds and being afraid of the dark. He just stared at her, not sure of what to say next. He didn't realize that his mouth hung slightly open as he lay there.

"Please?" She giggled at his expression.

He scooted to the side to make room for her. She smiled as she slid herself underneath the blankets and rested her head on his pillow, meeting him at eye level. Though his bed was long, it was quite narrow to accommodate his size. He was almost on the edge of his bed as he tried to maintain an appropriate amount of space between the two of them. He wondered how long he could last without falling of the bed.

Soon her eyelids closed gently and her breathing grew soft and steady. This time, it was him that stared without breathing. His eyes were locked on her face. Sephiroth felt her warm breath hitting his chest and again, he was dumbstruck. He had never been with a woman, let alone one sleeping in _his _bed. Romantic relationships were strange and foreign to him, not to mention something he never considered himself having. But it wasn't a romantic relationship. He was helping her live a normal_-ish _life for the first time, helping her recover for her past of horrors.

Then it hit him like a giant boulder falling from the top of a mountain during a landslide, was _she_ reallyhelping _him_? Tifa nuzzled closer to Sephiroth unconsciously, shivering and seeking warmth. Her arms were pressed tightly against his chest and her right cheek nuzzling in the crook of his neck. He stiffened at her movement, relaxed slightly, and put one hand under his pillow and the other draped over her waist and down her back. Her body was incredibly warm and he felt somewhat pleased by the fact that she had gotten closer. Skin to skin contact was something he wished he hadn't missed out on for so long. Resting his chin on the top of her head, he completely relaxed. Sephiroth closed his eyes and began to snore lightly.

The question still lingered in his mind though, was _she_ reallyhelping _him_?

* * *

_**A/n: Chapter five! Thank you very much for the review ZakuReno, I hope you liked this chapter. Thank you to everyone who added this story to their favorites and alert lists! I thought this would be a good spot to end the chapter, but I'm writing Chapter six at the moment also! I'm kinda in a zone right now! If you like the story or want to make a request/suggestion feel free, I allow anonymous reviews. **_


	6. Betrayal

Chapter 6- Betrayal

* * *

And so began her regular routine.

Get up  
Eat breakfast with Zack and Cloud  
Run through virtual training with Sephiroth  
Go to the Library  
Have lunch with Zack and Cloud  
Butt heads with Instructor Morrison  
Got to the Library  
Have dinner with Zack and Cloud  
Train with Sephiroth  
Go to the library  
Go to bed.

It had been 2 weeks since Sephiroth had brought her back to the SOLDIER headquarters. She had grown accustomed to sleeping in the dark and no longer _needed _to share a bed with Sephiroth, though she did miss it. Comfort was something she had never received. Though he never praised her or complimented her, she was content to have him around her. He could be quite frosty at times, but he was the first person that paid attention to her and seemed to understand her the more then anyone else. He didn't understand her all that much, most the time he didn't even try because he'd wined up with a headache from trying to hard, but compared to everyone else, he understood the most.

Bit by bit, Tifa opened up. It was only when someone, other then Sephiroth, asked her about her past, mentioned Neibelheim, or entered a laboratory that she would become withdrawn and reclusive. Eventually, she was able to walk past someone wearing a white lab coat without breaking down. She avoided the infirmary at all costs still. Sephiroth had increased his level of conditioning with her and she grew stronger and faster each time they trained. Lately she had often been seen with a smile on her face. She was content with spending all the free time she had in the SOLIDEIR library where she was on a daily basis, lost in a book.

Most of the cadets and first class SOLDIERS treated her like one of the guys. She was just as fast, if not faster, just as strong, if not stronger, and just as smart, if not smarter. She could keep up with everything that was happening. Tifa never complained once. After the first few days of training with Sephiroth, she seemed to have a exponential amount of energy, though she was out like a rock when her head finally hit the pillow.

It was just after her morning training session with Sephiroth. Tifa was sitting on a black leather couch in the library with a classic play in her hands. LOVELESS. Her face had a grim expression on it. Completely entangled in her book, she hadn't noticed Genesis enter the library. Hardly any of the SOLDIERS spent much time in the library, so Tifa was often alone. Genesis had come to check out a book but forgot why he was there in the first place when he saw Tifa sitting there. He hadn't expected anyone to be there. Intrigued by the fact that she was reading is all time favorite piece of literature, he watched her from behind a pile of books. She had been starring at the same page for at least 20 minutes, unblinking.

Genesis emerged from his hiding spot and slowly walked towards Tifa, reciting the play.  
"Legend shall speak  
of sacrifice at world's end  
the wind sails over the water's surface  
quietly, but surely."

Startled, Tifa looked up from her book. She managed to speak when she realized who was in front of her, "Loveless, Act IV."

"What do you think of it?" He sat down next to her, putting his feet up on the coffee table.

She shrugged.

"I'm the number one Loveless fan," He said coolly. "You know they never found Act V, the author apparently committed suicide before the play was finished."

As he spoke, her face grew grimmer, if possible. Tifa slowly closed the book and set it on her lap, not breaking eye contact with him. "And what else do you know about the author?"

"Well…" He paused to think. "They went by the initials T. L. and he lived alone."

She closed her eyes and scowled. "That's not true…"

"What do you mean?" Genesis tried to read her face, but failed.

"The author didn't commit suicide and _she _didn't live alone."

Genesis looked at her with a confused expression but wait for her to continue.

"Her wrists and hands were broken and couldn't write anymore."

"How do you know all this?"

"Because I'm T.L." She said emotionlessly, opening her eyes to meet his.

"Wha?'" He scratched his head.

"Tifa Lockhart…"

"Wha?" He repeated.

"I wrote it late at night when I was 10. When my cell was inspected they found it and took it away, thinking that I was doing something wrong. I got beaten for it and couldn't finish. They sold it to make some extra money for the _research _when they discovered what it was. But… by then the damage had already been done and I couldn't finish it." Tifa leaned back against the couch.

"I'd never thought I'd meet the writer!" Genesis turned cheerfully to Tifa. "This is amazing! Now you can finish it right?"

"If only it were that simple. I'm presumably dead… right? And it's such a famous play that if I were to finish it, then it would only be assumed that an amateur/wannabe wrote their own ending. I still wouldn't get any credit for writing it, the checks would continue to go out to _them _and I would only get two initials on the cover." She sighed.

"I see what you mean," He stroked his chin and leaned back against the couch too.

"Even if the morrow is barren of promises  
nothing shall forestall my return  
to become the dew that quenches the land  
to spare the sands, the seas, the skies  
I offer thee this silent sacrifice."

Genesis shot straight up and stared at Tifa in astonishment, his mouth ajar.

"Act V…?" She shrugged, as if it we nothing.

"You know what Act V is?!"

"I said, I never got a chance to finish writing it, I didn't say that didn't know it." She said bluntly. "I should get to the mess hall so I can eat before I have to train again."

Genesis watched in awe as she left the library. She had just completely changed the way he had ever thought about her.

Tifa walked down to the mess hall, grabbed a tray of food and sat down with her _buddies, _Zack and Cloud.

"Sup Val?" Zack gave Tifa a high five.

"Not too much and yourself?" She replied coolly.

"Bored. Haven't been on a mission in a while." He soured.

"You alright Cloud?" Tifa gave him a questioning look as he sat quietly, not eating and not talking.

"Wha-? Oh, I'm fine. Just uh… tired, that's all. Didn't sleep well last night." He said quickly. Tifa could sense the uneasiness in his voice.

"How old are you?" Zack quickly changed the subject.

"19…why?" She cocked an eyebrow at her dark haired friend.

"19? Geez, I thought you were a lot younger. You look even younger the Cloud and he's 20 but looks 16!" Zack jabbed Cloud in the ribs jokingly with his elbow.

"Me?! You're 21 and you still act like you're 7!" Cloud jumped up in a burst of anger.

"What's gotten into you man?" Zack asked hesitantly, nervously glancing at Tifa for a moment then shifting to look back at Cloud.

"You both know damn well! Especially you!" Cloud pointed at Tifa who knew what he was most likely talking about but gave him a blank expression none the less. Had Zack accidently let her secret slip?

_Traitor! _She thought herself glaring at Zack. After all she had done to cover-up the fact that she was a girl just so she could remain at SOLIDER, after hours of constant training, after all her physical exertion, he had just come and told Cloud? Friends huh? The memories of every time she was lied to, every time she was used, every time she was betrayed, came swooning into her mind all at once. She began to shake with rage. Sephiroth had guaranteed she would be safe here and Zack had promised that everyone would be nice to her once she got to know more people.

"What kind of game are you trying to play?!" Cloud shouted putting his finger right in Tifa's face.

"Cloud shut the hell up!" Zack was trying not to make the scene any worse then it already was by speaking in a low voice that only Cloud and Tifa would be able to hear.

With every word that the two of them spoke, he heart pumped an extra beat. She knew she'd have to leave before a certain someone reared their ugly head, but secretly she wanted to show him exactly what she was. She wanted to show him the real monster that had been living in the reactor, not continue to tell the crap legend he believed to be true.

"You think you can just waltz in here and get whatever you want?" He continued to yell, attracting all of the attention in the cafeteria.

She felt her body temperature violently increase as her blood began to boil beneath her skin, she stood up from the table, keeping her head downward and her fists balled tightly at her sides. She continued to shake.

"Is that how you got Lazard to let you in and the First Classes to cover up the truth?! You did them all sexual favors?!" He shouted even louder then before, slamming his fist on the table.

Zack jumped up from his seat too, he had heard about how if Tifa got angry enough she'd attack who ever was in her path. "Cloud, shut up, leave her alone! You have no idea what-"

Cloud punched Zack forcefully in the chin to get him to shut up. Behind Tifa, Cloud noticed Angeal, Sephiroth and Genesis escorting the rest of the cadets out of the mess hall, as well as the kitchen staff. This made him angrier.

"So it is true! Now all the First Classes are getting people out of here so they won't find about just what you really are, a whore!"

Genesis, Sephiroth and Angeal reentered to mess hall. Angeal tightly locked all the doors so no one could get in or out while Genesis and Sephiroth began to turn tables over, trying to create a secure shelter and hiding place before Tifa snapped.

"You're on your own!" Zack quickly left the two of them standing there and went to hide inside the newly constructed fort of cafeteria tables.

Tifa kept expecting to hear Chaos' voice inside her head, but she heard nothing. She was too angry and too far now to even consider walking away. She wanted him to see, see the burden she was forced to carry. Cloud was startled by what was going on around, the hiding First Class SOLDIERS and the angry cross dresser in front of him. A blue flame suddenly erupted, covering Tifa's entire body, though it wasn't hurting her and it hadn't been started by some one using materia. Materia was only allowed in the training rooms and was forbidden anywhere else in while in SOLIDER. It came to Cloud that she _was_ the materia, it was like her own soul was fueling the fire.

"What the hell is going on?!" Cloud cried out towards the other SOLDIERS.

"First I'm a hideous monster… then, I'm a heroic SOLDIER… now, I'm a cheap prostitute?!" She kept her head down; any eye contact would only speed up the transformation process. She wanted to speak first.

"What?!" Cloud shouted in confusion as he too a couple steps away from the flaming girl.

"What the fuck did you do Zack?" Angeal shouted.

"I… uh, might've let the fact that she was a girl slip." He stammered.

"And you didn't think he'd provoke her?!" Genesis snapped.

"Someone should get the boy out of there before he gets hurt," Sephiroth stated flatly. "It would be a shame to loose a man for such a meaningless issue, and I don't feel like cleaning up a mess."

"He'll be able to hold his own. Cloud's pretty strong." Zack said, peeking over the table slightly.

"It's not a concept of _him _being strong or not, it's more about how much he set her off," Angeal added.

"She can defeat a level 125 enemy in under 5 minutes," No emotions could be identified in Sephiroth's voice.

"125?!" Angeal, Genesis, and Zack shouted in unison.

"That's correct, she passed Zack at 80 and Angeal and Genesis at 95," Sephiroth continued.

"You mean she's only 25 levels below you?!" Genesis' eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

Hearing this Zack poked his head completely over the table to shout, "CLOUD, GET OUT OF THERE!"

Both Tifa and Cloud had heard the entire conversation. It was no surprise to Tifa though, she already knew it. However Cloud, on the other hand, was quite shocked about what had been said.

"Look at me!" Tifa hissed an order at the blonde haired boy in front of her. She locked eyes with him, his a sky blue, hers a brilliant gold. "My name is Tifa Lockhart, the only child of Mayor Josiah and Nakita Lockhart. This is what happens when you cross over onto god's territory! You create abominations!"

Cloud's eyes grew wider as he gasped in realization.

"Yes Cloud; I'm the _monster _of the Mako-Reactor. Many have died because of me, but not by my own hand," Nothing but hatred flowed from her voice, large fangs revealing themselves as she spoke.

Tifa's transformation went full on. She shrieked in agony as her whole structure rearranged itself. Her bony, skin covered wings sprouted, her lengthily black hair shifting into a shaggy main, her body increasing about 10 percent in size. The parallel lines appearing on her face as her skin turned a dull ashen color.

Cloud screamed in horror at the site of the demon in front of him.

Tifa surrendered control to Chaos as she fell into darkness in her own mind; she wanted it all to go away. Cloud stumbled backwards, falling on the floor as he tried to get away. Chaos pushed the table away effortlessly and walked towards Cloud. Chaos bent down and grabbed the boy by his foot and dangled him upside down in the air. The four First Class SOLDIERS emerged from their hiding spot and surrounded Chaos and Cloud.

"Drop him!" Zack said, getting into a battle stance.

Chaos focused on Zack, dropping Cloud on his head. Cloud scurried away as fast as possible, hiding behind a table.

"Tifa! Take control!" Genesis shouted.

"Tifa has given up," Chaos coldly stated in a demonic, husky voice.

"What?" Angeal spoke.

"Bonded by flesh, blood and spirit, doomed to an eternity of suffering alongside that which is forsaken. Forever carrying the burden of a thousand souls." A strange man unlocked and entered the cafeteria. He had long black hair tied behind his head in a low pony tail and was wearing a white lab coat and a pair of circular spectacles. He was followed by a group of people wearing the same outfit.

"Hojo," Chaos roared at the man. Cloud took his chance and ran out of the door.

"Now, now, Chaos. Is that any way to treat me after we've been apart for so long? Why, I'm practically your father," The man laughed maniacally.

"You inflicted all this on us!" Chaos hissed pushing Zack out of the way to get a better look at Hojo.

"I merely gave you two the chance to live forever. Though, it was hell trying to contain you," Hojo said.

"You know nothing of hell, you sick bastard." Chaos knelt down on the floor. A burst of energy erupted from the demon, sending a massive violet blast to every corner of the room. Everyone was knocked over by it; most of the people in the room were thrusted against tables and walls. When the blast cleared, Tifa in her regular form was kneeling on the floor in the position Chaos had been in. She began coughing blood up onto the floor.

"Pathetic," Hojo stood up and dusted himself off, then signaled two rather large males that had followed him in to get Tifa. She tried to swat them away with her arms, but she was too tired to actually fight them off.

"No…" She said faintly as she recognized the two men. They grabbed her by her feet and began to drag her away, her upper body dragging across the floor.

"Thank you for keeping my property safe while was absent." Hojo stated evilly as he left the room with his research team.

"Hey!" Zack shouted after Hojo, but he was too late. Zack turned around to face his comrades. "Why are you guys still standing around? We have to save her!"

"There's nothing we can do," Angeal looked down at Zack.

"What?!" Zack stamped his foot. "Sephiroth you were the closet to her, you didn't even try to stop them from taking her!"

"You've forgotten your place," Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. "She belongs to Shinra; that can not be changed. It's unfortunate, but it is the truth."

* * *

_**A/n: Thanks ZakuReno for the review! Here's another chapter, I hope you continue to enjoy it. Next Chapter there will be more of Sephi**__**roth; that I can promise. **_


	7. A Field Test

Chapter 7- A Field Test

* * *

Sephiroth tossed and turned in his bed. He had grown accustomed to sharing a room with Tifa; it seemed strange to have it all to himself suddenly. He would never admit it, but he missed her presence. Ever since she began sleeping in his room, he had grown strong feelings for her, something else he'd never admit. Frustrated, Sephiroth threw off his blankets and his SOLDIER gear. He just wanted to see her.

He trudged out of his room and went down to the lab where she was being held in. It was late and no one else seemed to be up. Sephiroth entered the room silently. The lights were dim and he could make out the majority of the details of the room. In the center of the room was a large class chamber. Tifa's unconscious body was being suspended in some sort of greenish-blue liquid. She was in her underwear with a few needles attacked to wires in her legs and arms. Her wrist had been tied together so she couldn't break free. He recalled the time she had shown him her back, but he never imagined that the rest of her body was just as scared, if not worse. He noticed a few new marks on her face, such as a bruised cheekbone, a fat lip and a black eye.

He looked around the room some more. His eye was caught by a stack of empty needles lying on a table; there were about 10 of them. Sephiroth frowned in disgust. He didn't like this at all. He knew Zack was right about something having to be done about the situation. Though, he'd never admit it. He eyed up the release button for the chamber. Slamming his fist down on it, the liquid in the chamber began to decrease. He smashed through the glass and pulled Tifa out. He'd had enough. Too long he worked as Shinras lap dog, too long he'd followed orders and dig things he considered immoral, and for too long he'd been subjected to keeping quiet about the awful sites he'd seen.

Sephiroth draped her damp body over his shoulder and left the chamber. He walked swiftly back to his room when he put Tifa in some warm clothes, tucked his masamune into his belt and wrapped a black traveling cloak around himself. He pressed the girl closely to his body and covered her with his cloak so no one would notice he was taking her away. Her hair felt cold and wet against him. As casual as possible, Sephiroth left the SOLDIER Head Quarters. He went to the underground parking lot and straddled his motorcycle. One hand steering and the other holding Tifa in place, he sped off out of Midgar.

About 3 hours out of Midgar it started to rain. He remembered a small abandoned shack that he had once come across during one of his missions that was about another 10-15 minutes away. His cloths were getting soaked and since it was night, the air was quite frigid. He felt Tifa shiver against him beneath his cloak. After hiding his bike behind some bushes, Sephiroth took the girl inside. He striped her and himself down to their underwear and hung their drenched clothes out to dry. He managed to find some blankets, they were old, but at least they were dry. Tifa's skin was ice cold. He carried her to a ratty old couch and wrapped all the blankets around them, hoping that his own body would warm hers.

Many thoughts drifted into his mind as he lay there pressed against a girl in her underwear. He tried to shake off his vulgar ideas, but they seemed to linger. Sweat began to form on his brow; he wasn't going to sink to that low of a level where he had to get his pleasures from an unconscious girl. It was immoral. He couldn't restrain himself much longer. The tips of his fingers slowly fluttered down her spine. This caused her to shiver and press herself closer to him in her sleep. Her _well developed _chest pressed against his was driving him crazy. His hand moved lower and he soon found himself stroking the fabric of her panties.

"Sephiroth…?" Tifa snapped him out of his trance.

Mortified, he immediately stopped what he was doing now that she had now woken up.

Her face went beat red when she took account of her present situation. "Where… where are we?"

"In hiding…?" His face was equally as red, but was slightly hidden by his long strands of silver hair. He nodded slowly, his lips pursed together, embarrassed and ashamed that he had been caught.

Sephiroth shook his head, shaking off his fantasies. He was still in the lab, looking at Tifa through the glass chamber. Saving her right now would probably not be the best idea. The weather was getting colder and he didn't know what kind of drugs she had been injected with. He'd probably end up killing her if he took her out of the chamber now. He'd have to wait and devise a plan. When the time was right, he'd come back for her and throw away everything he had. She was strong, but taking her away and abandoning SOLDIER would put them both on the top of the Midgar Most Wanted List. Soon there would be hundreds of people trying to track them down. As of right now, it wasn't worth the risk.

Sephiroth eyed up a computer that seemed to be analyzing her. He pulled up a chair and began to read the screen, he wasn't too found of science. There was a diagram of a double helix with labels shooting off in different directions. Her body seemed to be completely derived of materia. Was she being used as a weapon? The thought sickened him. There were so many other things, unnatural things, inside her body. Scrolling down the page, he saw a list of her genetic makeup. The Chaos gene, Jenova cells, materia and a whole bunch of other stuff that wouldn't necessarily work well together. He had read some where that The Chaos Gene and Jenova Cells could not coexist, that was probably the reason her body was so unstable at times.

She had mentioned that many had died because of her, but not by her own hand. Most likely Hojo had been trying to recreate her in the form of a clone, but had failed.

Sephiroth spent the rest of the night in the lab, reading everything he could get his boney hands on. It was when his stomach began to protest that he finally left to get some food. He would've been able to hide her from Hojo if only Zack hadn't let it slip.

It was much later. Hojo had pulled the girl out of the chamber and tied her to the examination table. Her eyes were wide open, but she seemed to be in a trance, unblinking and unmoving.

"This is going to hurt a lot, my dear," Hojo chuckled as he pulled a large needle towards her, "Just a little something that will make you more obedient." Tifa shrieked at the top of her lungs as the man injected the clear, cold liquid into her neck.

Genesis' ears caught the sound from his comfortable seat in the library. Sephiroth raised his head from his paperwork as listened to the unmistakable sound. Angeal and Lazard paused from their conversation for a moment. Zack stopped dead in the hallway, fist balled at his sides.

The door to Lazard's office burst open. Hojo was standing there with Tifa trailing behind him like a slave. The four first class SOLDIERS were also in Lazard's office, called on for a mission to Wutai. Tifa's skin was a pale ash color like Chaos' normally was, only she seemed to be in human form.

"I've done it! I'm a genius!" He pushed his glasses farther up his nose. "My experiment is finished!"

No one said anything. Though, Zack would've beaten Hojo if it were just the two of them alone.

"I've stopped its freewill completely. It will do anything you tell it to. Virtually indestructible, inhumanly fast, and the strength of over 3000 times its own body mass. Truly a work of art!" Hojo eyed Tifa like a piece of meat, and then turned to face Lazard. "I want you to put it into the field, test its abilities."

"Very well…" Lazard sighed, unhappy with the turn of events. "Sephiroth, she's your new partner."

Sephiroth gritted his teeth. He didn't want to subject her to this sort of thing, but at least she wasn't in the lab anymore.

"You're under control of Sephiroth now. I look forward to the test results. You can hit it if it gets out of line, though it shouldn't be a problem anymore." Hojo left the office.

Tifa kept her head down and stood behind Sephiroth quietly. Zack ran over to her and shook her by her shoulders. "Tifa! Tifa!"

She looked up at his eyes. Her eyes depicted no emotion, but they seemed to glow an even brighter, fierier red now. She grabbed him by the cuff of his shirt and hurled him across the room. She returned to her neutral stance behind Sephiroth.

Without another word, the five of them left Lazard to his work and headed out on a train to Wutai. During the trip, no one said a word. Sephiroth hadn't mentioned what he had discovered to the others just yet. The exited the train and went off in different directions. Angeal and Zack went one way, Genesis went another and Sephiroth and Tifa began heading a third direction towards the heart of Wutai. Their mission was to infiltrate and destroy any and all weapons that Wutai had created. Sephiroth had to continuously check over his shoulder to see if Tifa was still following him, her steps were silent as they walked down the path to Wutai.

The path led to a ridge over looking Wutai. Tifa and Sephiroth crouched down behind a bush as they surveyed the land.

"Keep quiet, destroy all weapons Wutai posses." He instructed. With that, running at break-neck speed, Tifa jumped off the ridge and onto a building. She ran up to some guards, destroyed their guns, knocked them unconscious, and then quickly disappeared within the city. She was much faster now; Sephiroth had to actually try for once to keep up with some one. He quickly dashed after her. About 15 Wutai soldiers were lying on the ground, their weapons completely smashed into billions of pieces. He followed the trail of unconscious bodies for about another 5 minutes, and then he felt a presence behind him. He swiveled around quickly and readied his sword.

It was Tifa. She was standing there with her head down waiting for his orders. "All visible weapons terminated." Her voice was lifeless and dry.

"Man I got no action! Sephiroth you could've left some for us!" Zack came walking up to Tifa and Sephiroth, followed by Angeal and Genesis.

"I didn't get any either," Sephiroth replied coolly.

"You mean that was all her?!" Genesis pointed at Tifa.

"Yea," Sephiroth shrugged.

"I see SOLDIER has a new pet!" A large armored man stood on the roof of a building, sneering down at them. "Did Shinra really get that desperate where they had to start recruiting _girls_?"

"Who are you?" Angeal readied into a battle stance, getting prepared if there was going to be a fight. The moment the man looked away from Tifa was his mistake. In the few seconds the man took to glance at Angeal, Tifa was up on the roof behind him. He turned around to see her fiery eyes locked onto his, the moonlight illuminating her silhouette. "What the hell?"

Tifa kicked him in the stomach, sending him crashing to the ground in front of her comrades. The man slowly got to his feet and was attacked by the four SOLDIERS. The alarms went off and Wutai warriors began flooding the paths towards them. Sephiroth, Angeal, Genesis, Genesis and Zack wasted no time. They began fighting instantaneously. Tifa waited for her orders.

"Take out the rangers," Sephiroth pointed to a row of Wutaniese warriors aiming guns at them from a high walkway.

Tifa glided along the roof tops until she reached the end of the line. She grabbed the man on the end and threw him into the man next to him. Like a bowling balls and pins, the rangers were all knocked over onto to floor. She trampled on each of their guns, rendering them unusable.

Sephiroth caught glimpses of her from the corner of his eyes as he savagely slashed through foes. With a significant amount of force, he slashed five warriors in half. Panting, the four SOLDIERs wiped the blood off their blades. Tifa stood patiently in front of Sephiroth.

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_**A/n: I found it hard to write this chapter. I think I rewrote it about three times. I'm still not too fond of how it turned out, but it's a necessary stepping stone for now. The next chapter will be better! **_

_**Thanks ZakuReno for the review! Thank you for all your support!**_

_**Thanks xSefirosux for the review! I really hope you continue to like this story!**_

_**Thanks Truth-Unspoken for the review! –high five- I'm glad to hear you like it!**_

_**When I go to reply to reviews, it won't let me and automatically closes my internet explorer. This is seemed like the best way to go about responding to reviews! Hurray for 7 reviews!**_


	8. Checklists, Weapons and Nosebleeds

Chapter 8- Checklists, Weapons and Nosebleeds

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Sephiroth shifted his head from side to side, trying to read Tifa. She was completely different. Ever since Hojo had been come back, she was like an empty shell. No emotion. No feeling. Completely numb. She was giving Sephiroth nothing to work with. It annoyed him all the more because deep down, he knew he was exactly like her, just following orders. The SOLDIERs had reported back to Head Quarters, but the following morning, Lazard had sent Sephiroth and Tifa on a top priority mission against the Ruby Weapon. The pair sat in the back of a Shinra helicopter waiting to get dropped off, Sephiroth with his masamune, Tifa with her customized golden gauntlets. A proper outfit had been made for Tifa while they were in Wutai and she no longer had to wear the oversized SOLDIER uniform. She wore a tight leather jumpsuit that covered her entire body minus her face. There were a great number of strange belts varying in different sizes down her stomach, waist and legs. The belts all seemed to act as if they were attempting to restrain Chaos back, while trying to use the demons powers at the same times.

Sephiroth and Tifa had been staring at each other for 10 minutes without saying a word. He had noticed how nicely the outfit complimented her shape, though he'd never admit it. Her body had filled out more since she'd been living at SOLDIER. Though she was still skinny, her body had plumped to a more natural looking hourglass shape. The word _hot _even crossed him mind a few times before it was discarded like yesterday's newspaper. He didn't want to think about her that way… at the moment. He had a mission. Though she seemed like an empty husk, he still considered her to be beautiful.

"Yo, you two aren't doing anything inappropriate back there are you?" The pilot piped up, disliking the silence. The Turks agreed to fly out Sephiroth and Tifa; however the pilot they had assigned was not one that Sephiroth was particularly fond off. His name was Reno; he had brilliant orange-red hair and baby blue eyes.

"How much farther until we reach the Ruby Weapon?" Sephiroth brushed off his comment.

"About half an hour. So are you two a thing?" Reno prodded the subject some more.

"No." Though Reno could not see his face, if looks could kill, Reno would've been dead already from Sephiroths death glare.

"Well, you've got her trained well. She hasn't said a word since you two got on." He joked. "If you're not a couple I'd defiantly like your number, baby." He directed at Tifa.

Tifa didn't respond, just continued to stare lifelessly at Sephiroth.

"Ouch! That hurt," Reno commented on the cold shoulder she was giving him. "I like it when they play hard to get!"

"This is it, we'll get off now." Sephiroth stood up and opened the door to the helicopter, followed closely by Tifa.

"But we're not-…" Reno started to speak but his too passengers had already jumped out of the helicopter.

Sephiroth and Tifa landed in the middle of the Corel Desert. They began to walk around, searching for their enemy, wild winds blowing sand into their faces. Tifa pointed towards a large rock that seemed to come to life as they got closer. Both of them entering a battle stance. In front of them rose a massive Ruby Weapon, though it was made by the planet, it looked quite mechanical.

Sephiroth glided in with is sword, attempting to take out its legs. The Ruby Weapon pushed Sephiroth away with one of its massive tentacles. Tifa used the weapon's preoccupation with Sephiroth to her advantage and jumped forward at it, her metal gauntlet denting the side of it. The weapon changed its focus and slammed an oversized fist down on Tifa. Tifa caught its fist and had to hold it in place above her head to keep it from crushing her. Sephiroth recoiled and sliced off one of the weapons tentacles. Tifa moved over to the side and the weight of the weapons fist caused it to get imbedded deep within the sand. Wriggling, the weapon tried to recover its hand, while Sephiroth took the opportunity to cut off the other tentacle. Tifa jumped onto its head as it knocked the wind out of Sephiroth with its other hand. She began clawing at its face and eyes. The weapon casted a shadow flare that sent the two of them tumbling backwards into the sand dunes.

Sephiroth sent a blast wave with his masamune in the direction of the Ruby Weapon. The Ruby Weapon jumped up into the air and dodged his attack after it managed to get its fist out of the sand. Tifa's gauntlets began to crackle with lightning. She ran up to the weapon and rapidly punched where she had first dented it. It swung its arm out and clawed her away. Sephiroth's blade began glowing with a blue fire as he used the materia slotted into it. His pace quickened and he began franticly slashing at the weapon, only seeming to make small cuts and dents in it, no severe damage. A bolt of lighting shot through the weapon, stunning it for a split second. The weapon used its Ruby Ray, which was like a laser, and began shooting a Sephiroth. He rolled out of the way and run right underneath the weapon, stabbing it forcefully.

It roared and used its arms and legs to whip sand around, trying to hit Tifa and Sephiroth. Tifa got the bulk of the damage from the weapons Whirlsand move. She covered her face, trying to block the sand from going into her eyes. Sephiroth casted about 8 more blast waves from underneath the weapon, slicing it into pieces. The Ruby Weapon fell to the ground, defeated. The heavy debris fell on top of Sephiroth before he got a change to get out of the way. He dropped his sword and was pinned down beneath the remains of the Ruby Weapon. He couldn't move.

Tifa began sifting through the debris trying to find Sephiroth. She managed to drag him out, staring absently; she waited more orders from him. Sephiroth called SOLDIER for a helicopter to come pick them up.

After being dropped off in Midgar, the two of them had simply entered SOLDIER Headquarters when he felt the urge to turn around and walk back out to the desert. Not only was the man he despised most waiting for them to return, but he had an unusually large posse of people dressed in white coats.

"Ahhh, my two greatest creations have finally returned from destroying the Ruby Weapon." Hojo cooed as the people behind him began awing in admiration.

Sephiroth gritted his teeth as he thought about being that sad excuse of a man's product. He grabbed Tifa's wrist and pulled her past the crowd.

"Professor Hojo, what would happen if the two were to produce an offspring?" A woman spoke.

"I intend to find out the answer two that as well," Hojo pushed his glasses father up the bridge of his nose.

Sephiroth stopped dead in his tracks. _Intend?! What the hell did the idiot mean by that?! _Sephiroth screamed in his head.

"No doubt the offspring would amplify both of their abilities. Naturally, I've designed them to be attracted to each other," Hojo continued. Sephiroth's face was so cold it could've been carved from ice.

"What if they aren't attracted to each other?" A different man spoke.

Hojo cackled. "Nothing some increased hormone levels won't solve."

"Bastard…" Sephiroth mumbled under his breath as he pulled Tifa away. They went to the cafeteria to find some lunch, all that battling made Sephiroth quite hungry. Each of them grabbing a tray, they sat down at a secluded table in the corner. That's when the whispers began to arise.

"So I hear Vincent made first class," one cadet whispered to his neighbor. "He's with Sephiroth now."

"He?! That's obviously chick!" another spoke.

"Vincent's a girl?!"

"Yup, you have to agree that that explains so much now."

"Holy hell she's hot!"

"Sephiroth doesn't look too happy about being partnered up with a girl."

"That lucky bastard gets to share a room with her too now that they're partners."

"Bow-chicka-bow-…" The young cadet started to speak when he caught a glace from Sephiroth which caused him to immediately refrain from talking.

Sephiroth made a mental list of things he needed to do.  
_1.) Avoid Hojo  
2.) Find a way to return Tifa to normal  
3.) Plan escape  
4.) Do Laundry_

_No wait… Laundry should move to number 1. _Sephiroth took a whiff of his SOLDIER uniform. _And number 3 to number two spot._

---Later---

_1.) Laundry: √  
2.) Avoided Hojo: √_

That left two things on his mental-to-do listen. It was well past midnight now, but he couldn't sleep. Sephiroth stared into the abyss, contemplating an escape route.

_First, I'll pack a bag of necessities, put on my cloak to disguise myself, get on a bus, travel out of Midgar, go to Edge, head underground, and wait till our disappearance blows over._

_No… new plan. Bring a large bag of gil, put on a cloak to disguise myself, travel into Midgar, get a hair cut, take a bus to Edge, rent an apartment under a fake name, wait until everything blows over._

Sephiroth sighed. _One more time, take a bag of gil, find a costume shop, hitch a ride out of Midgar, find another costume shop in Edge, get on a bus to Kalm, rent an apartment, get a part time job, and wait till everything blows over._

_3.) Plan escape: √_

Sephiroth heard Tifa roll over on the cot on the corner of his room. Now, the final and hardest item on his to-do list. She began mumbling something in her sleep.

"Sssstop…" She rolled onto her other side again. "I don't… want to…die… go away. Fire… it burns… too hot… let go… not a murderer… I can't…"

Sephiroth sat up in his bed and looked over at her. She was just saying words, no connection with each other.

"Circles… too many… I. Don't. Know. How. To. Handle. This. … Hate me today… Salvation. Behind you! ... Don't hurt him… "

Sephiroth got out of bed and knelt next to her cot to get a better idea of what she was saying.

"SEPHIROTH!!" Tifa shot straight up from her bed, screaming his name. Her hand accidently colliding with his face, causing him to tumble backwards.

They stared at each other for a few seconds of silence. Sephiroth noticed she was heavily panting. The dim light from the moon outside made the layer of perspiration glisten on her skin. Her white t-shirt was sticking to her body.

"…Oh god…" Sephiroth mumbled. It was so true what Hojo had said, he was attracted to her. _Sweating… panting…screaming… in my room… _Sephiroth laid down with back on the floor and covered his eyes. _Not now… _

"Sephiroth…?" She called over to him.

"Go back to sleep Tifa…" He didn't move.

"Don't tell me what to do!" She snapped back at him.

Sephiroth shot straight back up when he comprehended her response. "What…?"

"I…I'm not taking orders anymore?" Her voice sounded somewhat cheerful. "I'm not taking orders anymore!" She jumped off her cot to give Sephiroth a hug. "The serum wore off!"

Tifa landed on top of Sephiroth with a thud as his back hit the floor again, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. She let go of his neck and sat back up, perched on top of his stomach.

"Why aren't you wearing the sweatpants I gave you…?" He did his best trying to keep eye contact and not letting his eyes wander to her bare legs.

"It was really hot in here… and they're too big for me…" She blushed.

Sephiroth tried not to think about the girl sitting on his abdomen, he tried so hard.

"Sephiroth…?" She broke the long awkward silence.

"Hmm…?" He responded quietly.

"Your nose is bleeding," She giggled.

"…………………………………………………………………………………………………fuck." He said under his breath.

"You've never been with a woman, have you…?" Tifa got off his stomach to kneel next to him.

Sephiroth stared at the ceiling, pretending her question went unasked. Tifa put her hands on either side of his face. She leaned in and gently pushed her lips against his, only for a second then she retreated. Even if it was only for a second, he was already missing the warmth of her lips and hands on his face.

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have…I went too far" She stood up and began biting her lower lip in anxiety.

Sephiroth stood up also, whipping the blood from his nose with his bare arm. He took a slow step towards the burnet, she took a step back, he took another step forward, and she took a step back only to find out that she was against the wall. Sephiroth stood in front of her, a good 7 or 8 inches taller. She closed her eyes and turned her head sideways, expecting him to hit her for her mistake. Sephiroth grabbed her chin and turned her head so she was facing him, her eyes were still closed. He leaned in until their lips met once more. His hand left her chin wound tightly around her waist. He picked her up and gently placed her on his bed. He broke their passionate kiss to look at her beneath him. She was blushing madly. Tifa reached up to brush his long silver locks out of his face. Sephiroth was glad it wasn't just a fantasy; however, what happened next made him wish it really was.

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_**A/n: Cliffhanger! Bwahahaha! Please read and review if you enjoyed this chapter.**_

_**Reviews: **_

_**Thanks for the review ZakuReno! **__I liked Sephiroth's Wild Fantasy too, I was originally going to make it really happen, but then I wanted to go in a different direction with the story. It was just too good to pass up so I kept it._

_**Thanks for the review Sorrowsong!**__ I really you continue to enjoy my story, thanks for your support since the beginning._

_**Thanks for the review xSefirosux! **__Here's another chapter, I hope I didn't make you wait too long for it. I feel like I'm destroying Sephiroth's pride by giving him all these emotions. But it's so much fun though!_


	9. Whispers in the Dark

Chapter 9- Whispers in the Dark

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"Holy hell!" Zack exclaimed at the site before him.

"Did we interrupt something…?" Angeal gazed over Zack's shoulder.

"So you're taking advantage of the fact that she has to follow your orders?!" Zack flicked the lights on in Sephiroth's room and he stormed inside.

Sephiroth was holding himself up by his arms above of Tifa. They still hair their jammies on, but it didn't take a genius to figure what would've happened in the near future. The two of them only move their heads to take a look at who had intruded at such a late hour. Zack and Angeal were now inside the room. Genesis was leaning against the door frame with his head downwards, his hair covering his face so his expression was unreadable. Angeal seemed his calm usual self, perhaps slightly repulsed by the scene around him. Zack was outraged at Sephiroth. Sephiroth got off his bed and stood up, Tifa doing the same.

"You sick bastard…!" Zack poked a finger into Sephiroth's chest.

"Zack," Angeal rubbed his temples as he turned to face Sephiroth, "Lazard's sending us on another mission. Wutai has a large war camp set up in the Wastelands outside of Midgar. We're being sent in to neutralize the situation. Now would be the ideal time since it is dark out."

Sephiroth went to grab his jacket but was stopped by Angeal.

"We came for Tifa, not you." Angeal said.

"What?" Sephiroth scowled, he was stronger though.

"According to Lazard, you're due for an evaluation and physical exam." Angeal sighed.

Tifa grabbed her outfit that was folded neatly at the end of her bed and went into the washroom to change. In less then 3 minutes she came back out adjusting her gauntlets. She bowed to Sephiroth before whispering an apology that only he could hear.

The four of them left Sephiroth to himself and headed out to the Wasteland. She was temporarily partners with Genesis. Zack and Angeal had gone to one side of the camp to cause a distraction while she and Genesis were headed to the heart of the camp to set off an explosive.

"You're so quiet…" Tifa said as she followed behind her partner.

"Huh? Are you back to normal already?" Genesis cocked an eyebrow, though she couldn't see it.

"Yes… but don't tell that to … he'll just make me obedient again."

"How can you stand him?" Genesis asked coldly, changing the subject.

"Pardon?"

"Sephiroth… How can you stand being around him so much?"

"He saved me."

"So you feel you owe him your life…?"

"No… It's not that…He's the first person to ever care about me."

"And not the last…" Genesis said to himself a little more loudly then indented.

"Genesis, what are you saying?"

"Nothing…" He sighed. "Let's just set up the bomb and get out of here."

"Is something troubling you?" She continued to press the matter.

"Do you remember that morning in the library?" He stopped to face her.

"Yes… why?" She looked up at him with a confused expression.

"Ever since then… I've…" Genesis couldn't form his thoughts into words.

"You've…?" She egged him on.

"Forget it, let's go." He continued to walk through the camp. The two of them completed their mission in silence. When they were finished they met up with Angeal and Zack outside of the camp. Genesis was avoiding eye contact with his partner at all costs.

Sephiroth paced anxiously in his room, wondering in silence what he would say to Tifa when she returned. They still needed to escape but if Lazard sent her out on more missions without him, that would make things that much harder. His check up was done, he was healthy. However, the nurse had stuck him with a needle. He had an almost positive guess what was inside the needle that had been injected into him. Hormones. He'd been too preoccupied thinking about Tifa to even realize what had happened before it was too late.

His stomach felt like it was doing back flips. He'd never so many emotions before. It was like everything was increased by a thousand percent. Angry because Tifa was gone. Worried because Tifa was out there with someone else. Nervous about her coming back and seeing him like this. Nostalgic about what had happened before she left. Happy that she was giving him her attention. And so many more emotions. He'd never realized before how much he enjoyed her company, even though he'd still never admit it. That fact that she wasn't there was driving him up the wall.

His head shot so quickly towards the door he felt his muscles ache. The door creaked open slightly and Tifa entered. The lights were off in the room so she assumed he must have been sleeping. She began unbuckling her many belts.

"Tifa…?" Sephiroth whispered.

The young girl jumped slightly, startled that he was standing right there next to her and she hadn't noticed. "Sephiroth?" She blushed. "Can I help you with something?"

"We're leaving." He stated, something in his voice seemed off to her.

"When?"

"Right now." Sephiroth picked the bag he had packed and threw it over his shoulder; Tifa fastened her belts back on. The two of them crept through the dark hallways of the SOLDIER building and made their way down to the parking lot. Sephiroth sat on his bike and started it up. Tifa sat behind him, holding on tightly to his waste. Sephiroth revved the engine and they were off, speeding through the night with Midgar shrinking in the distance. They had gone north out of the city towards Edge. Some much for his premeditated strategy. All that was on his mind now was being alone with Tifa.

"Where are we going?" She shouted over the roar of the engine.

"Edge," He shouted back. "We won't get there for a few hours."

A light rain began to fall on them, and soon a heavy downpour. Sephiroth's long silver hair began sticking to Tifa's face. They finally rolled into edge. Sephiroth brought Tifa to the nearest hotel where they rented a room for the night. The room seemed nice enough; there was a couch, a bed, a mini fridge, a small bathroom, and a TV.

"How long are we going to stay here?" She asked, ringing out her wet hair.

"A day or two, then we have to keep moving." Sephiroth began taking off his jacket. He stopped about their button down and sat on the couch with his face in his hands, his soaking wet hair covering him like a curtain.

"What's wrong?" Tifa knelt down in front of him, placing a hand on his knee to comfort him.

"Nothing." He said, his voice quivering slightly.

"Hey…" She pulled his hands away from his face. His eyes were red around the edges and slightly puffy. "Are you crying?"

"It's the damn hormones. Don't look at me. I don't want you to see me like this."

"Crying doesn't make you weak, Sephiroth." Tifa said in a soothing voice, brushing back his hair so she could see him better.

Sephiroth began to sniffle. He hadn't cried in over 20 years. Tifa sat on the couch next to him and embraced him tightly in her arms. He hid his face in the crook of her neck and let the tears fall without restraint. She rubbed his back trying to get him to feel better, she still didn't know what he was crying about, but she supposed neither did he. Finally, he stopped crying but didn't break their embrace.

"Tifa…" He whispered her name.

"Hmm?"

"I don't want to be alone anymore." He quoted her words from before.

"You don't have to be," She lifted his head. Tifa leaned forward, pushing Sephiroth back against the couch. She locked their lips as lay on top of him. He stroked the side of her face, she was truly beautiful. She was the object of his passion, the only thing worth living for, the only thing worth protecting. Tifa began undoing his jacket and pulled it off. Sephiroth took off all 12-15 of her belts and slowly began to unzip her leather jumpsuit. He threw it across the room when it was off. She loosened his pants and slid them off down his long, muscular legs, leaving the two of them in their underwear. The both stared at each other for a moment in slight astonishment.

Down Sephiroth's legs, he had equally as many scars as Tifa did on hers. Though, his seemed much older then hers did. He brought a hand up to her stomach and felt the huge healed gouge across her abdomen.

"Hojo kept me locked up for a number of years also," Sephiroth locked eyes with Tifa.

"Is that why you always worse these pants? Because you didn't want anymore to see your scars?"

"More or less," He shrugged.

"I think they're beautiful," She gave him a warm smile before leaning in to kiss him again. She cupped her hands around his face and pulled him closer. Sephiroth ran his fingers up her back making her shiver._**

* * *

**_

**_A/n: A short chapter, less action packed. Please drop a Review if you liked it or not, let me know what you think. If I wasn't trying to keep this rated T, I would've gone farther… and I felt like making it "fluffy."_**

_**Reviews:**_

_**Thanks for the Review ZakuReno!**_** I couldn't resist giving him a nose bleed… Nobody really knows much about his personal life and he was so dedicated to SOLDIER that he'd probably never been with a girl before. Anything is possible lol.**

**Thanks for the review xSefirosux! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as the last and continue to love this story. And Sephiroth's always seemed full of angst to me, why not throw so more emotions into the pot?**

**Thanks for the review Rowanarkaynne! So did I. I hope you continue to read this story. Sephiroth is going to be at the peak of his emotions in the next few chapters. Though, he'd never admit it.**

* * *


	10. Lowlife

Chapter 10- Lowlife

* * *

"Thanks Bernie, this just in, 2 First Class SOLDIERS have been reported A.W.O.L. They apparently sped off in the early morning three days ago with out so much as a reason to why and where they were headed. Be on the look out for these two, they are armed and dangerous." A picture of Sephiroth popped onto the TV screen. "The Legendary SOLDIER Sephiroth and a brand new First Class SOLDIER known by the name of Vincent Valentine. No picture available. Over to you Stan."

"Thanks Catherine. I've done some research on this new First Class SOLDIER and discovered some shocking evidence. It turns out Vincent Valentine is a fake name, the real identity of this new recruit is none other then the monster from the Neibelheim Mako Reactor, masquerading as a human. So shut your doors and lock up tight, this fiend shows no mercy to anyone. Until further notice please stay inside during the night, don't wander off alone, and certainly don't try to find this horrible creature." A man with a microphone spoke on the screen. "I've interviewed some people that used to live in Neibelheim to see what they can tell us about the monster."

"It was night; everyone was asleep when I started hearin' these sreaminin's coming from the reactor. My pop went to go check out what was happening and he never returned. The savage beast killed meh pop when I was just a young'ing."

"I supposed many people would like to pay back that monster for what it did to our home. So many people died because of it! I lost 4 family members in one evening."

Tifa clicked the television screen off with a heavy sigh. She looked around the room Sephiroth was asleep on the bed still and there were a few dishes on the coffee table. She sighed again, this time out of boredom and not irritation. She quickly jotted down a note saying that she was going for a walk and tapped it to Sephiroth's forehead to make sure he'd see it when he woke up. She strolled out of their hotel and wandered down the streets. It was dark outside; they had both made a habit of sleeping during the day. The street lights dimly light the grey cobble stone roads that Tifa was now pacing down.

Sure she looked like a regular girl, but she sure as hell was a lot stronger then one. Truth be told, she was looking for trouble, she was that bored. They had stayed inside the hotel for three days and she wanted to get out. Tifa hated being in once place for a long length of time.

"Let go of me!" A woman shrieked down an alley.

Tifa wandered down there to see two men holding a young woman, not much older then herself by her skinny arms and three other men standing around her. Tifa licked her lips; a habit she had picked up that she would do right before entering combat. It caught the attention of the 5 men in front of her and the woman.

"Hehe, man, we're getting lucky tonight boys!" One of them shouted.

"Oi, leave her alone," Tifa folded her arms over her chest. The two men holding the girl dropped her and approached Tifa.

"Congratulations bitch, you've just earned her place," One of them said as the girl scampered away quickly.

"Hm, I don't like these odds. It's been so long since I've had a fair fight." A sly smirk appeared across her face.

"Aww that's too bad, you should'da thought 'bout that 'fore you started sticking yer nose in'na other peoples business." Another man said as him and his buddies formed a circle around Tifa.

"We'll go one on one if you know what I mean," One of them cackled.

Tifa laughed. "That's not what I meant. 50 of you guys versus me would make it a little more even, though the odds would still be in my favor."

"So smug, but for how long?" A 6th male voice spoke from the entrance of the alley.

Tifa's mouth hung open as she looked at Genesis standing in the light from the street lights.

"Get out of here! Go find your own broad!" One of the guys shouted.

"Broad?!" Tifa screamed in the one guys face.

"Tifa now is neither the time nor place," Genesis stated coolly. "Don't waist your _gift _on these low some scum."

"Gift?!" She turned to face Genesis, outrage on her face. "Is that what you call it? To you gifts, to me more like some kind of cosmic joke!"

"I'm tired of waiting damn it!" A man shouted as he lunged forward at Tifa. Tifa delivered a swift uppercut to his stomach and sent him flying into the brick wall. The four other men stared at her with mouths ajar.

"Tifa don't make a scene," Genesis ordered.

"Stay out of this!" The four men and the girl shouted back at Genesis.

"I warned you…" Genesis backed off slightly and raised his hand in the air, signaling that he surrendered. Just then a spot light came out of no where and shot down upon Tifa. About 300 SOLDIER troops appeared in the area surrounding the alley way, on roof tops and what not. Each one of them possessed a riffle that was loaded and aimed towards her.

"What the fuck is this shit?!" one of the men shouted.

"Screw it! Let's get out of here!" A man shouted as he dragged his unconscious buddy out of the alley followed by his 3 other friends.

"I'm not going back!" Tifa used her hands to emphasize her words.

"You're not going back to SOLDIER. My mission was to retrieve and relocate you."

"So you're just following orders?" Tifa put her hands angrily on her hips.

Genesis used a darkness materia that blinded Tifa. While she was momentarily stunned, he tied her wrists behind her back and ankles together was strong material that Tifa couldn't seem to break free from. Genesis threw her over his shoulder and proceeded out of the alleyway. Tifa wriggled under his grasp but it was like the darkness he had casted was making her drowsy.

"Put me down!" She hissed, still blind.

* * *

"Sephiroth, you're under arrest for Kidnapping, SOLDIER Abandonment, and Grand Theft." Angeal read a list off a piece of paper as he stood in front of his former comrade. "You have the right to remain silent, anything and everything you say will be used against you."

Heavy chains were tightly wrapped around Sephiroth's body, making it difficult for him to not only move but breathe. He scowled at Angeal. Though, Angeal did not look in the least bit like he was enjoying this, he almost seemed pained. Three young cadets came in to the room and hauled Sephiroth out to the street where a helicopter was waiting. Down the road he saw Genesis carrying Tifa to another helicopter. Her eyes were dark so it was obvious she had been temporarily blinded. He saw her thrashing and kicking on Genesis' shoulder. He also read her lips and saw that she was cussing at him.

The helicopter door slammed close and he could no longer see her. Angeal sat across from him, avoiding eye contact. His mouth was drawn into a thin line, a grimace almost.

"Where are they taking her?" Sephiroth snarled.

"My place!" A familiar red haired Turk pilot joked.

Sephiroth began angrily flailing on the floor at the Turks comment, trying to break free of his chains. A young 3rd Class SOLDIER on the helicopter zapped Sephiroth in the neck with a Taser. A bolt of electricity was sent through out his entire body cause him to lurch upwards slightly.

"Touchy… Though, I guess with a woman as fine as that I'd be upset if she was taken away too. Damn, she was fine!" Reno continued.

"I'll fucking kill you!" Sephiroth shouted, his voice filled with venom.

The young SOLDIER zapped Sephiroth again with the Taser when he began rolling around on the floor again. This time, the shock was longer and harder. He panted furiously, trying to break free with 110% more effort this time.

The helicopter finally landed back in Midgar where Sephiroth was once again hauled out and dragged through town. Midgar was a little more active during the night so many civilians were there to watch the show, pointing at Sephiroth and whispering to their neighbors. He continued to work at his chains while kicking his feet franticly, booth were failed attempts at breaking free. Sephiroth took another Taser to the neck, this time it was twice as power as the first two put together. He gritted his teeth as he tried to block out the pain.

He was back at SOLDIER Headquarters; however his new sleeping arrangements were a maximum security prison cell in the sub basement of the building. He was thrown on the cot with his chain loosened enough for him to get off by himself. No one wanted the task of taking of the Legendary General Sephiroth's restraints. He slammed his fists against the cell wall and cried out in furry. He jumped to his feet but felt woozy from all the electricity that had been shot passed his brain. Sephiroth fell backwards and passed out on the cold, hard floor.

* * *

Tifa rubbed her eyes and yawned. She sighed and scowled when she recalled her most recent memories of her being kidnapped by Genesis and being blinded. She still couldn't see anything and that was currently frustrating her.

"Good, you're awake." Some one's voice called to her from the other side of the room she was in. It sounded familiar but she wasn't positive. "But still blind I see. I did warn you not to make a scene."

"Genesis…" She said coldly.

"Tifa, please don't hate me." Genesis approached her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Why shouldn't I?" She flicked his hand away from hers.

"Because you're safe now and no more harm will come to you."

"I was safe with Sephiroth!" She blurted out.

"No you weren't. He put you at risk all the more by taking you away from SOLDIER. If we hadn't intervened then more and more people would have clued in to your presence."

"I'm not anyone's object! I don't belong to anyone!" She threw her fists up in the air.

"…I never said you were…"

"Just go away! I don't want to talk to you anymore! Where's Sephiroth?" Tifa heard Genesis walked towards a door then changed her mind. "Wait…"

"Hm?"

"Don't leave me alone. It's dark and I don't like it." She rubbed the back of her neck nervously.

Genesis pulled up a chair next to the cot where Tifa had been discarded.

"Why do you continue to work for SOLDIER?" She asked in a timid, gentle voice. "Even after all the horrible things you've no doubt seen?"

"I have no choice. I too, have been branded by Shinra."

"You can choice to leave, just like Sephiroth and I," Tifa lowered her head even though she still couldn't see anything.

"I suppose, but then I would end up being hunted down just like you and him. With the difference that I would be shot down instead of retrieved. Apparently I'm not as precious as either of you two. Besides, I'm dying anyways."

"Dying?"

Genesis pulled off his left glove and placed in between hers so she could feel it. Tifa ran her fingers over his. Her face saddened when she felt how rough and bony his hand was. It was like a sheet of extra thin sandpaper wrapped on top of bones.

"I'm starting to degrade." He pulled his hand back and pulled his glove back on.

"Is there anything that can stop it?"

"Yes, there is one thing. But the people who are in possession of it wouldn't give a bit up to save me."

"What is it?"

"Jenova Cells."

* * *

"He's what?!" Angeal exploded in Lazard's Office.

"That's right, I'm afraid he went A.W.O.L. when the team was recovering Tifa and Sephiroth. Not only him, but 30 other second class SOLDIERS have gone missing along with him," Lazard, being the calm man he was, folded his hands on the table in front of him with out so much as giving a hint of annoyance. "Do you have any idea where to find him?"

Angeal paused to think for a moment. "Banora would be my first guess."

"Of course," Lazard began calling up all possible Banora files on his computer. "Genesis should be no problem for you and Zack to find, however the girl is a different story. She continues to grow stronger by the day. The only person who would stand a chance against her would be Sephiroth, but he'd have no part in SOLDIER anymore."

"Did you speak with him yet?"

"Yes, and thank goodness for his restraints. He would've killed my right then and there," Lazard rubbed his temples.

Just then, a violent explosion shook the building. Lights began flashing red and sirens began sounding. Lazard called up one of the company's surveillance cameras on his computer and sighed heavily.

"Sephiroth's gone," He said as he showed a video clip of Sephiroth's empty cell with a massive hole. A few black feathers lay scattered on the stone floor. "He's going after. Gather up all the remaining 1st class, 2nd class, and 3rd class SOLDIERS and go after Sephiroth. As of right now, the two of them pose the biggest threat. Together, they could destroy the planet."

* * *

_**A/n: Hurray! Another chapter done finished. Drama, drama, drama. :D Sorry this chapter took so long, I kept reciting it over and over again in my head before I wrote it up to make sure I could easily continue on from it. Please R&R if you liked it. **_

_**Reviews:**_

_**Thanks xSefirosux for the review! Lol no, it wasn't a fantasy. And though this chapter doesn't say exactly what Genesis was/is thinking, but it will be explained better in the nest chapter or so.**_

_**Thanks ZakuReno for the review! Perhaps there will be a love triangle… or perhaps he's just using her…. Hmm….**_

_**Thanks SorrowSong for the review! I hope this chapter was long enough for you. I wanted to end it on a thought provoking part. Thanks for your feed back.**_


	11. Till Death Do Us Part

Chapter 11- Till Death Do Us Part

* * *

One foot in front of the other, the hulking figure trudged through the rain and muck of a dirt road. His long silver hair stuck to his face and his drenched clothes. Step by step, he etched forward to Banora. His fists were clenched at his sides. Sephiroth was going through the full spectrum of human emotions. Something he had never suffered before. Like a disease, thoughts of Tifa plagued him. He'd seen her broken, he'd seen her broken, he'd seen her content, and he'd seen her in the peak of her own emotions.

Her name became a steady rhythm in his head. Every heart beat became a syllable. Ti-fa. Ti-fa. Ti-fa. His world seemed to revolve around her. Though Genesis and Angeal had been the closest things to companionship he had ever had, he knew that he wanted to be with Tifa more than anything, even if it meant fighting against his own friends. Too long had he waited for someone to hold. Too long he had waited for someone to call his own. Too long he had waited for someone to love him with all his flaws. He wasn't about to let that slip away.

Sephiroth mechanically marched onward, as if he had turned himself on auto pilot and mental taken a vacation. There were not villagers in Banora. All the houses had been abandoned. The snapping of a twig behind him brought him out of his trance. Sephiroth swiveled around to catch a glimpse at what was following him. Though he had the impression that many Shinra troops were on his tail, he was startled to find that they weren't at all what he had expected.

About 30 sets of glowing red eyes met his own luminescent emerald ones. He registered them as Tifa Clones… only, they seemed more beast then human. Some of them were crouched down looking hungrily at him. Large fangs and streams of drool trickled out of their open mouths. None of them were wearing shoes or gloves so their razor sharp nails were protruding. A few crept closer to him; he noticed a primitive nature about the way they walked.

With a swift movement, they all bolted forward at top speed. Sephiroth had little time to react. He threw a fist time one of the clones heads sending it flying backwards. Another one waving their nails in an aggressive fashion as if to distract him while one jumped onto his back. He grabbed the one on his back and threw it at the one in front of him. A clone below him began gnawing at his legs, desperately trying to bring him down. He kicked it in the head and had to spin quickly around to catch one about the smack him on the head by the throat and throw it away from him. He felt cold, wet nails dig into his shoulder, and then a pair of teeth bit down forcefully on his ankle. The pain only made him angrier. He shouted a battle cry before ripping the one off his ankle and swinging it around using it as a weapon to defend himself from the other clones. He threw the clone in his hands at three other clones standing near him causing them to tumble over.

Sephiroth heard some grunting that wasn't coming from the mob around him. He looked upwards and saw about 50 other Tifa clones on the building roofs. With low pitched growls, they began to swarm him. Half a dozen of them tackled him, sending him on his back. As he thrashed around, he felt himself being lifted off the ground and carried through the forgotten town of Banora. There was a constant tugging on his limbs but the irritation was only minimal compared to clones yanking his hair. The more he flailed about, the harder they dug their nails into him.

The clones carried Sephiroth into a cave hidden behind many bushes and other rocks at the base of a mountain. It was completely dark except for the glowing crimson eyes staring ahead. Finally, after 10 minutes of walking in darkness, they entered a dimly lit hallway and then into a large grey, stone room. The clones discarded him carelessly on the floor and went to bolt down all exits. The stood absently, as if they were a group of cadets waiting for their commander to give instruction.

Sephiroth surveyed the room. There was a large holding chamber in the middle of the room. Tifa was floating in it, her hair wildly around her head like a shaggy mane. She was unconscious with many wires connected to her.

"A marvelous specimen, isn't she?" A rough looking, prosperous man walked into the room with his hands in his white lab coat pockets. "I don't suppose you remember me, do you Sephiroth?" The man kept a safe distance from him.

Sephiroth gritted his teeth as he stood up. "Hollander…"

"Then we need not for an introduction."

"Let her go," Sephiroth stood his ground.

"Why would I do that? A valuable subject such as this should be studied more. I doubt that she wants to see you anyways," Hollander strolled to one of the computer connected to Tifa's tank. "You see, she volunteered herself to help Genesis stop his degradation, however, she was unaware of what she really signed up for."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm afraid; she has no recollection of you or anything that's happened in her past. Her mind has been… how shall I put it? –Cleared of all unnecessary content. If I register something to her, she will think that. Example," He began to type something onto the computer. "Sephiroth is your enemy. There, now to wake her up." He pressed a large green button on one of the side panels.

The two men watched Tifa. Her eye lids slowly opened and scanned the room. Her gaze focused on Sephiroth. She started violently clawing at the glass, her eyes turning a brilliant golden color. The glass began to crack as she continued to pound on it.

"That's enough," Hollander pressed a red button on the side panel which sent an electric shock through Tifa's body, once again making her unconscious.

"Change her back!" Sephiroth grabbed Hollander by the collar of his clothes. The clone Tifa came rushing forward and one booted him in the chest. Sephiroth skidded backwards and landed on the keyboard. A shower of glass littered the floor. He looked around but didn't see the original Tifa.

"It's time to put the legendary Sephiroth to the test," Hollander cackled as he and the clones left the room, no doubt to head to higher ground where they could watch the fight.

Sephiroth waited to hear the sound of Tifa approaching, but couldn't. He raised his fists in preparation for when Tifa was would strike. He'd rather do anything then fight her. He felt the wind whoosh past his ear as he ducked from Tifa's first punch. She sailed in with more punches that Sephiroth deflected with his own fists, not wanting to inflict any harm on her. He jumped backwards, avoiding Tifa's knee to the stomach. She front flipped towards him then crouched down to take him out by the legs. Sephiroth tumbled over, somersaulting backwards on the cold floor then standing up once again. Tifa charged forwards, eyes narrowed, teeth clenched tightly together and arm extended. He stepped quickly out of the way, causing her to stumble into a wall. Sephiroth came up behind her and grabbed her tightly in his arms, pinning her own to her sides. Tifa wriggled, trying to get out of his stone grip.

"Tifa…" Sephiroth sighed in her ear. Tifa bit down deeply into his arm, piercing through his leather armor. Sephiroth grimaced in pain. Tifa began to shake violently against him. Her finger nails began digging into his thighs as the tripled in length. Her skin grew that dull ashen grey and eyes a brilliant yellow. Tifa snarled as she felt her bones and internal organs rearrange themselves. As set of boney wings sprouted from her back, piercing Sephiroth right through the chest as they extended.

He released his grip from the demon and swayed backwards. His head felt dizzy. Between the bite to his ankle, the bite to his arm, the claws to his thighs and the gaping holes in his chest, he was loosing blood quickly. Sephiroth dropped to his knees gasping for air.

Chaos leaned in to take the last spark of life left in him when the entire room began to shake. Chaos took as step back and glanced around to see what was causing this. An eruption of light burst from Sephiroth. A large halo appeared over his head, his left arm grew into a large black wing, and the lower half of his body vaporized in thick white clouds. Beneath the clouds sprouted 6 incredible white wings varying in size. His long silver hair rested perfectly against his now unclothed upper body.

Chaos sprung into the air. With all the demons might, Chaos flew forward into the now angelic version of Sephiroth. Countering Chaos' attack, Safer Sephiroth lunged forward at equal speed with equal force. An explosion of white and black filled the room with a fiery blaze.

* * *

"My head…" Tifa whined, lifting a hand to gently massage her temples.

"Tifa?" Sephiroth called out to her.

"Sephiroth? Where are we? Is this… the Life Stream?" She looked around even though there was nothing to see. The two of them were in white nothingness that seemed to go on forever.

"Perhaps."

"You mean… we're dead?" A look of panic filled her eyes. "I thought neither of us could die, did we some how cancel each other out?"

"Perhaps," Sephiroth stroked his chin.

"So this is it then? We're stuck her for eternity?" Tifa pouted. "There were so many things I wanted to do before I died. Living was one of them."

"Perhaps."

"What do you mean by that?" Tifa folded her arms across her chest hastily. "Don't you even care a little bit?!"

"Perhaps," Sephiroth mimicked her movement and folded his arms on his chest also.

"Is that all you're going to say to me?!" Tifa began to twitch in irritation.

"Perhaps."

"This isn't the Life Stream! And you're not the real Sephiroth!" She poked a finger into his chest.

Her movement caused a black hole to open up in the middle of the nothingness right underneath her. As she fell through the hole, she watched the fake Sephiroth disappear into the distance. He watched without any emotion, eyes colder then stone.

* * *

"What the hell happened here?! Where is she?!" Genesis pinned Hollander against the wall.

"Sephiroth and Tifa killed each other, hardly anything I could control," He replied with a sly smirk.

"I told you she was not to be harmed!"

"Well, you should've thought about that before you got her to sign up for the degradation process."

"Genesis!" Angeal jogged into the room, followed by Zack and at least 5 dozen cadets and 2nd class SOLDIERs.

"Where are Tifa and Sephiroth?" Zack demanded.

"They're dead," Genesis snarled.

"What?!" Zack tugged anxiously at his black hair. "Sephiroth…Tifa...dead…?"

"Such a waste too, I didn't even get a chance to get a cell sample from Sephiroth," Hollander sighed.

Genesis punched Hollander squarely in the check. "You bastard!"

* * *

Sephiroth hunched over in the rain. He was cold, he was wet, but most of all he was completely alone. His masamune was imbedded deep within the hard rocks of the cliff he was on, caked in mud. There was dirt running down his face and falling back to the planet. He felt like crying, but there were no tears. He felt like screaming, but no sounds came out of his mouth. All he heard was the rain falling down all around him.

He wanted to move, but his muscles were hard and rigid. It was as if he was a stone gargoyle perched high above a city on a ledge. He grieved at what he had become. He knew Tifa was standing right in front of him, but he was unable to reach her. No matter how hard he pushed himself, his body refused to obey. He heard her talking to him, but some unknown force was forbidding him to answer her or even to look up.

* * *

_**A/n: Hizza for another update! Hope everyone didn't have to wait too long. It Wednesday… so I'll probably be starting chapter 12 tomorrow night, in between trick or treating on "World of Warcraft". (Translation: taking a 5 min break every hour to play a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game.) **_

_**Reviews!**_

_**Thanks for the review Soul-Jazz! I'm glad you do. I've grown quite found of this pair myself :D and am planning on writing more stories about them when this one is finished.**_

_**Thanks for the review ZakuReno! Here's the next chapter, though I apologize for Genesis still being a bit sketchy. It was hard to give up too much of him without ruining the ending, hehe. **_

_**Thanks for the review xSefirosux! I didn't want to put too much Genesis in this chapter because he has a bigger part to play in later chapters and I didn't want to ruin his role by revealing him in this chapter too much.**_

_***PLEASE REVIEW- I WOULD LIKE SOME FEEDBACK* **__****_


	12. The Promised Land

_**A/n: Please listen to 'Pieces' by Red while reading this chapter to get the full dramatic effect. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**_

Chapter 12- The Promised Land

* * *

Tifa grunted as she pushed the fallen ruble off her body. It felt like ever part of her ached. She was battered and bruised but she had finally destroyed Sephiroth. Searching around, she found no evidence that he was still amongst the living. Her heart filled with hatred. Hatred for everything and everyone who had used her. The one she respected most, the one she had given her heart to, the one that had brought her out of the darkness, was dead. Not only that, but his death had been by her hand. She screamed out in anger and frustration. Her emotions swarming her brain, all she could think about was him being dead and how it was Genesis' fault. She listened for voices and heard a few from some where within the building. Her heart beat faster every step she took closer to the location of her captors. Sure enough she found Hollander, Zack, Genesis, Angeal and many other SOLDIERs personal.

They hadn't noticed Tifa enter yet. She walked swiftly forward. Zack's mouth gaped open when he finally noticed the extra body in the room.

"...huh?" Zack stared at the girl in amazement.

"Not possible..." Hollander muttered eyes wide. "You truly are uncontrollable and invincible."

Her eyes fixed on Genesis. Tifa balled her fists by her sides, if looks could kill, Genesis would've been completely obliterated by now. She trudged up to him and with one swift movement she punched him in the face. Genesis cried out in surprise as he brought his hand to his nose to examine the warm red liquid oozing out of it.

"Tifa it wasn't supposed to happen like this," He waved his hand in the air, trying to calm her down.

"Shut the fuck up! I'm tired of your talking. I save your life and you betray me by putting me under control again. Not to mention the fact that you attempted to remove my memories. You sick bastard!" She began beating on him with all her fury.

"Tifa!" Angeal ran up and grabbed her from behind, holding her in a headlock.

Tifa grabbed Angeal by the arm and flipped him over onto his back. She eyed up Genesis again much like a lion before it attacks and devours a baby gazelle. Suddenly, wicked blue flames erupted all over her body. Her eyes intensified their shade of vermillion. She shot fire towards Genesis who deflected it with his sword. A low growl ripped out of her chest and she ran towards Genesis. He swung his sword at her, purposely missing. Tifa ducked under it slightly and was close enough now to grab him by the face. Genesis grimaced in pain as the flames licked his face angrily.

"That's enough!" Angeal jumped in between the two of them.

"Don't defend him!" Tifa hissed into his face.

"Listen to what I have to say!" Genesis fired back at her.

"Why should I?! You're the reason I lost what little I had left!"

"Tifa… I'm sorry. I never meant for it all to happen like this." Genesis looked down at his feet.

"Like hell you didn't! You brought me to believe I could trust while you were pulling the strings all along!" She spat in his face.

"I won't ask you to forgive me…" He wiped her spit off his face.

"I hope you know that my cells are a mixture of Chaos' and Jenova's. So far, no other person has been able to sustain the war between the two different cell types. Surely Hollander told you that." Tifa looked around angrily for that chubby man.

"Wait… he's gone and so is the helicopter!" Zack looked around franticly.

"Go find him Zack!" Angeal ordered.

"You'd better hope I don't get to him first," Tifa pushed Angeal out of the way and made a run for the window.

* * *

Tifa remained in hiding for days, left alone to her maddening thoughts. She'd have her revenge eventually; it was all a matter of when and where. She lay up against a large tree in the deepest part of the forest. Her tears had long since run out and she sat in quiet contemplation. It was quite cold, but she felt nothing, only the bitter thoughts that Sephiroth was gone. He wasn't coming back.

"You lied to me… You said you weren't going to leave me alone any more," Tifa said quietly.

"I can't take back what's been done. It's up to you to continue living for the both of us." Sephiroth sat down next to her, his long strands of hair gently wafting in the breeze.

"I can't even reach you. You've become part of the Life Stream, some place I am not allowed to go."

"I'm still with you Tifa, in spirit at least. Do not forget that"

"It's my fault you're dead," Tifa lowered her head into her knees, hiding her face.

"No it's not and I will never blame you for it."

"I don't deserve your compassion."

"I forgive you, but the hardest part is forgiving yourself." Sephiroth stood up. He walked away to leave Tifa to herself. She shivered and hugged herself tighter.

"Hey! You there! You alright?" A voice called out towards her. Tifa looked up to see a large dark skinned man walking in her direction. His hair was braided tightly to his head and his face looked rough. She had to do a double take to make she wasn't just imagining things. The man had a mechanical arm and he was holding the hand of a girl that looked about 6 or 7. The little girl had large amber eyes and brown hair tied back in a long braid. She didn't have dark skin like the man, so it was apparent that she was most likely not his biological child.

"Hey buddy, are you alright?" They finally reached her.

It dawned on her that she must look like a man. She was quite dirty on account of the rubble she had to crawl out of earlier. She only wore one gauntlet on her left arm and she was slouching so her feminine features were not visible for their perspective. On top of that, her hair was wildly resting around her face.

"Do you need some help?" The young girl bent down to get into Tifa's face.

"C'mon man, we'll take y'a to Rocket Town and get you rested up." The man pulled Tifa to her feet. Her hair was still wildly hanging about her body, covering the rather large lumps on her chest that would seem hard to miss. "Yo sure are light, we'll gettya sumthing to eat."

Tifa gasped in surprise as the little girl grabbed onto her hand and start pulling her out of the forest. Tifa had hunch over and run to keep up with the girls speed and height.

"I'm Marlene and that's my daddy. But you don't have to call him daddy, his real names Barret Wallace." The girl seemed very excited and eager to bring this new stranger to Rocket Town. "What's your name?"

Tifa came to a dead stop. Her own name brought back a lot of memories to her, mostly bad ones. The time when she was happiest was when she used her fake name to be a member of SOLDIER. Though she hadn't appeared to be smiling during those times, she was deep down on the inside. She had been with Sephiroth, that's why she had been so happy.

"Vincent Valentine," Tifa said in her now perfected, deep masculine voice.

"Hey look at that! It matches your eyes!" Marlene pointed to an open shop window where a long crimson traveling cloak was hanging.

Tifa looked at it carefully through the glass. It did match her eyes. She went into the shop to get a better look at it. She picked the fabric up and felt the soft cotton material in between her fingers.

"Are you going to buy it?" Marlene had followed her into the shop.

Tifa looked around and noticed that it was a traveling gear shop. She took many things about the gear there into note. She pulled the cloak off the manikin and placed it on the counter for purchase. Then she saw a pair of large golden boots that matched her claw. Tifa grabbed those as well and put them onto of her cloak, as well as several pairs of socks to fill up the boots and make her taller, making her look a little more like a man. While she was at it, Tifa took a single leather glove to go over her right hand.

"We just got a new shipment of guns in, would you like to take a look?" The young male shopkeeper asked, even though he didn't wait for an answer to pull out a long black case. He opened it up to reveal a triple barreled hand gun with a charm that had a three headed dog hanging off the hilt. Tifa fell in love with it instantly. "Cerberus, not many people can use this gun, only 50 were made. The sheer force of the shots sends people flying backwards."

"Do you have any clips for it?" She asked, grabbing a leather holster off the wall.

"As a matter of fact I do, 50 handgun clips." The man put another box on the counter. "Is that all for today?"

"Yes," Tifa said, pulling out a large money pouch from somewhere in her leather jumpsuit.

"Your total is 75,000 Gil." The man blinked eagerly.

"That's a lot of money!" Marlene said, her eyes wide and full of innocence.

Tifa rummaged through the pouch and pulled out the correct amount. She put the pouch back in her pocket, acting as if it weren't strange at all to be carrying 75,000 Gil on her person. She had made a hefty sum of money when she was working for SOLDIER, but she had no where to put it so she carried it with her. The man behind the counter thanked her before going into the back room. Tifa put on her new apparel. The boots brought her up to about 6'1", though she'd need practice walking around this them.

"Let's go!" Marlene beamed up at Tifa before pulling her out of the shop and back onto the street. "Daddy's probably already at home and wondering where we went." Marlene pulled Tifa down the street. Tifa almost tripped a couple of times, but she managed to make it back to the Wallace's place without any major tumbles.

"There you two are," Barret said as they burst through the front door. Barret was sitting at in the kitchen of their home with another blonde haired man sitting across from him as well as a young man with short brown hair and a head band sitting next to him. Sitting on the counter was a girl with orange hair tied back in a pony tail.

"Daddy this is Vincent Valentine!" Marlene let go of Tifa's hand to run and hug her father.

The girl that was sitting in the counter hopped off to get a better look at Vincent… err, Tifa.

"I'm Jessie, this is Barret, Cid, and Biggs. There's another guy here too, he's in the washroom though. His name is Wedge." The girl pointed to each person in the room as she introduced them.

Tifa didn't say anything; she was shy around new people.

"What brings you to these parts?" the brown haired boy so named Biggs asked.

"Shinra Scum…" She said with a frown.

"Hold on a second, you saying you're against Shinra?" The blonde haired man, Cid, said, with a country accent.

Tifa nodded.

"Welcome aboard yo!" Barret jumped up.

"What?" Tifa tilted her head to the side.

"We're an anti-Shinra group. We could defiantly use more members." Jessie said, giving a shy smile and blushing slightly.

"Aww Jessie, don't start flirting with him already. We just met him; don't want him running for the hills this early." Biggs said.

"I'll join then…I guess." Tifa leant up against the wall, thinking over her decision.

* * *

"You think it wise to trust them?" Sephiroth leant his back against Tifa's.

"I never said I did. I have to avenge your death some how." Tifa frowned.

"Are you really doing it for me or are you doing it for yourself?"

"…Both of us, I guess."

"No, think about it Tifa. Who are you doing this for? What will it prove in the end?"

"Redemption."

"Tifa… you've done nothing wrong."

"I don't want to live anymore without you."

"The same way I can't come back, you can't come to the promised land."

"I don't want to wait here for something I'll never get back." Tears began to roll gently down Tifa's cheeks.

"Hang in there," Sephiroth wiped a stray tear away from her face.

"With what? There's nothing left for me."

"There's always something. I don't want you giving up."

"It's not fair."

"It never is."

* * *

"Shera, mark 4. She's a beaut!" Cid called said to Tifa from behind the steering wheel.

The anti-Shinra group, also known as Avalanche, was now in an airship, flying towards Midgar, planning on taking out the receptor plates so Shinra couldn't take away any more of the planets like with their power source. Tifa found out that Shinra was stealing the planets life away with all their Reactors and that most of the members of Avalanche had lost some one dear to them because of Shinra's greed for power. Though she remained quiet, they seemed to accept her presence. A few times she caught Jessie staring at her.

They met up with a few other Avalanche members before they had headed off to Midgar. One of them was a large red cat-like creature named Nanaki, who spoke the human tongue and another one was a smaller black cat the wore gloves, a crown and a red cape who also spoke the human tongue. The third other member picked up was a young Wutainese girl named Yuffie.

"So… how old are you?" Yuffie asked, invading too much of Tifa's personal bubble.

Tifa put her gloved hand over the girls face and pushed her backwards.

"Hey! You meanie! I was just trying to make conversation!" She pouted.

Tifa didn't want to talk to anyone; she was still brooding over the death of her loved one.

"You're annoying." Tifa said calmly.

Yuffie stomped off somewhere in the ship, muttering to herself.

* * *

_**A/n: I tried to make this chapter as sad as possible. I don't know if it worked, but it really tugged my own heartstrings and I cried while writing the parts about Sephiroth. (I'm really sappy- I can't help it) I had to stop so many times while writing this, I apologize that it took longer then usual for the update to come out. **_

_**Reviews:**_

_**Thanks for the review xSefirosux! I couldn't just stop updating this story; I'm enjoying writing it so much. Sometimes, you have to go through the bulk of depression to reach the happiness on the other side. **_

_**Thanks for the review ZakuReno! Tifa can't die, she's indestructible. :D However, Sephiroth is another story. There is always light amongst the dark though, so hang in there.**_

_**Thanks for the review Lilith! I'm glad you think so. I've always hoped my stories would make people squirm in their seat, I just never thought I could do it. I hope you continue to enjoy my story.**_


	13. Nothing to Lose, Nothing to Gain

Chapter 13- Nothing to Lose, Nothing to Gain

His hair blew gently in the wind, almost as if it were dance to an unheard rhythm. His mouth was drawn tightly into a frown. His eyes were fixated towards the ground, frigid and lifeless. His posture of perfectly straight; except for his neck that angled his head downward. His breath could be seen looming in the air just in front of his face.

---

A loud explosion ripped through Tifa's ear. Her body shook with the ground as the sector 7 over head plate came crashing down. Woman and children ran screaming through the streets. Tifa slowly walk forward to SOLDIER Headquarters. Though it was only at the end of the road, she felt every step taking an eternity. She pushed past the two front doors and entered the building. The receptionist at the desk gasped in surprise as they ran past Tifa outside. First, Tifa would take down Hollander; no doubt he was there by now. Then she'd take out Hojo, then Genesis. Anyone else who got in her way would also be taken out.

---

His body trembled with excitement as he kicked his motorcycle to a start. The loud engine made him smirk at the thought of what was coming for those who opposed him. He heard two other motorcycles start and he sped off through the desert wasteland. Wind ripping through his hair and sand clashing against his face; he never slowed down. He was on a mission.

---

Tifa climbed up four flights of stairs until she reached the research floor. She was prepared for anything, or so she thought. As Tifa kicked down the doors, a look of confused horror spread across her face. There, lying on the operating table was an unconscious Sephiroth.

"Ahaaa, so _you're _the one who's attacking Midgar. I should've known." Hojo pulled a white sheet over Sephiroth's body.

"What are you trying to pull? Are you recreating him?" Tifa pointed Cerberus directly at Hojo's head.

---

As he grew closer the city boarder, the sounds of explosions going off and the echo of gun shots was just barely noticeable over the loud humming of his motorcycle. He wondered how long he had left before the entire Shinra Building was demolished. He lowered himself on his bike and increased the speed.

---

"A great scientist never reveals his secrets," Hojo cackled, pushing his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose. Hojo walked over to a control panel and typed a few buttons. Right before Tifa's eyes, Sephiroth was brought to life with bolt of electricity. Her composure paled when she saw Sephiroth pull off the white sheet and stand up off the table. He took a few steps backwards, swaying slightly. He was staring at his hands, then at his arms, then his chest. Sephiroth franticly felt the skin on his face.

---

By now he was inside the city walls. He paid no mind to the civilians running to and fro, desperately trying to get away from the conflict. He made a sharp left turn, then a right, then another left until he was practically at the door of the Shinra Building. He rode his motorcycle right through the glass door of the building. Shaking the glass out of his silver hair he hoped off and began his descent up the many stair cases.  
---

"Se…Ssse… Sephiroth?" Tifa stuttered, her mouth ajar as she lowered her gun.

Sephiroth dropped his hands to his sides and looked at the girl. He took a few steps closer to her. Tifa didn't look like herself; in fact she was still dressed as a man. Her stomach turned anxiously, awaiting his reaction. They were the same height now because of her new boots. Tifa met him at eye level, her eyes beginning to glaze over with suppressed tears. Now, Sephiroth was standing a foot in front of Tifa. Her lower half trembled, she didn't know how much more heart break she could handle if he didn't know who she was.  
---

He finally reached the floor he needed to be on. The other sets of footsteps just behind him reassured him and gave him the confidence to carry on. Though he wasn't sure what'd he find, he was determined to carry out his task, even if it would cost him his life.  
---

Sephiroth slammed Tifa back against the wall, dazing her just long enough for him to grasp her neck with his bony hands. Tifa gasped in surprise and horror. Though she technically couldn't make it to the afterlife, she could still go unconscious and feel every bit of pain that was inflicted upon her. She squirmed under his tight grasp, the oxygen slowly growing scare in her lungs. Life a fish out of water, she tried to gulp for air, though she couldn't seem to get any.

A gun went off from the doorway nailing Sephiroth in the side head. Releasing his grip on Tifa he fell to the floor in a pile of his own blood. Tifa screamed in horror at the site of her loved on lying dead on the floor. She knelt down and turned him so that he was facing her. His eyes were closed but there was something about his face that eased her pain. He looked almost peaceful in his eternal slumber.

"Let it go. It's just a clone." The person who had fired the gun stood in the doorway watching her. Tifa looked over at them with a perplexed expression.

"I've got mother, let's go!" A second man ran up to the first man.

It didn't take long for Tifa to find the features of these two men in front of her oddly familiar. Their cat-like eyes and fair silver hair reminded her of the imposter lying on the floor next to her. The men left the room and began running down the hallway. Tifa stood up and ran after them, whoever they were, it probably was more than a simple coincidence that they were in the Shinra Building the same time she was.

"Hey! Who are you people?!" Tifa called out after them.

There was no answer. She ran just behind them as the exited the main doors that were now a pile of glass shards. Three motorcycles were parked outside two were vacant and another silver haired man was sitting on the third. When he saw them leave the building, he pressed a red button on a hand held device. The base of the building they had just been in burst into flames. A loud blast erupted from the building causing Tifa to be sent flying forward into a summersault on the street. Rubble littered the street. By the time she regained her balance, the three men on the motorcycles disappeared. Tifa cussed to herself as she looked around trying to see where they had gone.

"Vincent! Time ta go!" A somewhat familiar hick accented male voice called out to her. Tifa nodded and followed the blonde man holding a spear over his shoulder. The two ran all through the streets of Midgar. Civilians continued to run and scream. Dozens of SOLDIER operatives flooded the city streets with riffles. Bullets hissed past their ears, causing them to run faster.

"Go on without me, I'll meet up with you guys in a bit," Tifa halted to a stop and swiveled around to face her attackers. Cid continued to run past the tall, dark buildings being engulfed by flames.

Tifa deflected the bullets with her gauntlet with firing off a few rounds of her own. Her excellent eyesight and next to perfect aim made the SOLDIERS easy targets. One by one, she picked them off. Perfect shots to the chest to stop their hearts from beating forever. Shinra had taken from her, now, She was taking from Shinra. The SOLDIERS all fell to the cold cobble stone floor, blood beginning to pool around them quickly. With a flick of her cloak, Tifa turned away. She heard one of them cough and another gasp, Tifa closed her eyes to the pain. It wasn't fair, most of them probably had families, but they chose their fate the day they joined Shinra.

------

"Cid! Get us outta here!" Barret shook his fist at the pilot.

"Shut up and hold onto yer britches! What they hell do ya think I'm doing? Baking a cake?" He fired back from behind the steering wheel, his patience growing thin.

"Where's Vincey?!" Yuffie waved her arms in the air franticly. "He should've been back by now!"

"He stopped to fight off dem SOLDIERS," Cid informed her.

A flash of caught the attention of the people in the bridge. Tifa was kneeling on the deck of the airship, just outside the windshield. She was looking forward not wanting to make eye contact with anyone at the moment. She was in such deep thought, that she was unaware of the young girl tapping on the glass window behind her.

"Well, what's going to happen now?" Sephiroth stood next to Tifa, his arms folded firmly against his chest.

"I was hoping you could tell me that," Tifa mumbled.

"Humph, if only it were that easy. You still need to figure things out on your own."

"What's there to figure out? I have to spend an eternity without you." Tifa frowned as she lowered her head, her long dark locks whipping wickedly around her head.

"It doesn't have to be like that."

"What else can it be like?"

"You could move on? Pick up and start over."

"I will never feel the same way about anyone else the way I fell about you."

"Say Tifa, I've got a question."

"What's that?"

"Why are you still dressed as a man?"

"…"

"Is it because you're afraid of who you are?"

"…"

"Why are you trying to hide yourself? Do you think that others would be frightened if they knew the truth about you?"

"Yes and no…"

"Well, which is it?"

"I don't want to draw attention to myself. When… when I look in the mirror as Tifa, it reminds me of everything that's happened to me, but when I look in the mirror as Vincent, Vincent is my way of starting over. I will start over, but I'll _never_ move on."

"What happens when you are discovered?"

The airship landed on the ground with a thud which brought Tifa to. She stood up and took in her surroundings. They had landed in a dense forest; no doubt attempting to hide if more of Shinra came looking for them. Tifa leapt off the deck of the airship and landing in a crouch on the dirt floor of the forest. The bottom of the ship opened up, a ramp appearing and extending to the ground. Yuffie was the first to come running at Tifa. Tifa took a cautious step back, getting into a stronger stance so she wouldn't be knocked over by this tenacious girl.

"Vincent! I was so worried about you! I thought you had died." She ran up to Tifa and gave him a hug. Tifa slouched but her muscles stiffened at the contact. She hoped to god that Yuffie wouldn't notice the two abnormal lumps on her chest. Tifa bit down hard on her lower lip in apprehension. By now the others had come down the ramp and were watching what was happening. Tifa pried the girl off her waist and pushed her backwards. Tifa stormed off into the forest, hating the fact that she was that close to being revealed.

"All I did was give him a hug, why does he have to be so angry about it?" Yuffie pouted.

"Best just let him be, he doesn't seem like the social type anyways," Nanaki spoke. "We should start a fire before night fall."

---

"Brothers! We have her at last! We can be whole again." Kadaj, one of the young silver haired boys cheered as he pointed to a tightly sealed black container in his hand.

"Together, we can be one." Loz, the boy with the shortest silver hair spoke.

"Heh heh, not yet…" Kadaj cackled.

"Why's that?" The third boy with the longest hair, Yazoo, questioned. "Don't cry, Loz."

"It seems that there is still something missing, or someone."

"Part of him lies within the heart of a girl. That is the only thing we're missing."

"Then let's find her! I can't stand waiting any longer." Loz lowered his head and began to cry.

"I don't know. However, I do know of someone who might." An evil grin spread across Kadaj's face. "Someone who would do anything for Jenova cells."_**

* * *

**_

A/n: Gomennasai! Gomennasai! Gomennasai! I didn't mean for it to take this long to update. Aside from being busy packing up my house and preparing to move, I was having writers block for this chapter. I finally just decided to hunker down and write it out. It took 3 tries :( I know it's not as long as it could be but I wanted to create suspense! Please read and review. The more reviews I get the more motivated I get about updating. Also in the spare time I was having writers block for Angel of Darkness I started writing out different scenarios for SephirothXTifa. How do these sound?

_**Tifa is a highschool student with a lot on her plate, while juggling jobs to help pay for her intuition for university, she must put up with her abusive father. Nobody seems to notice anything out of the ordinary with her until one day a new teacher walks into her life and changes everything.**_

_**A/u: Sephiroth, working for the Shinra Empire, he must find and retrieve a Dr. Lockhart, someone who is said to be able to cure anything and a miracle working. The problem is, Dr. Lockhart is working for the Rebel Scum of society and has a dark, dark secret.**_

_**How do those sound? The second one is a bit more supernatural/sci-fi but just a little.**_

_**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! **_

_**Thanks for the review Lilith! Hurray! My writing is effective. I'm so glad to hear it. **_

_**Thanks for the review xSefirosux! Or is he…? This is Sephiroth we're talking about.**_


	14. SemiTruth

Chapter 14- Semi-Truth

* * *

"Surely there's something we can give you in return for capturing this girl." A sly smile formed on Kadaj's lips as he paced back and forth between a large window and a person in a wheel chair. The dim light from the outside world reflected on his face, the only visible skin he showed.

"What could you possibly have to offer?" Genesis glowered at the man dressed in black in front of him. The man tapped impatiently on the handles of his wheelchair, wondering how is god's name this person had found him in his hiding spot.

"Do you not see it? While his body may be gone, do you really think his mind completely dissolved in the life stream?" Kadaj looked over his shoulder at Genesis, his silver hair covering his face like a veil.

"What do you mean?" Genesis scowled and looked out the window.

"I am part of him, together, with my brothers and this girl; we can bring him back to his former glory. Wouldn't that be great? The legendary hero returns to Midgar to have revenge on Shinra." The tone of his voice was more cruel and sadistic then cheery and hopeful.

"If I bring this girl to you, you will give me the Jenova cells I need?" Genesis confirmed Kadaj's proposal.

"Correct, however, seeing the sorry state your body is in; it would be unwise to send you into the field. Perhaps if you told us where we could find her?"

"And how will I know you'd hold up your end of the bargain that way?"

"Humph, then how do you propose to get this girl if I can't know where she is and you can hardly walk?"

Genesis looked over to the corner of the room experimental fiends lay, soulless much like a vessel or a puppet. Kadaj followed his gaze and then met Genesis' again. Kadaj laughed and then told Genesis the time frame the task needed to be completed by before taking his leave. Genesis was left alone to his thoughts. He frowned at how weak him body had become.

* * *

"Hey, ya got something troublin' you bud?" Cid sat down next to Tifa. Tifa made no movement or gave even the slightest acknowledgment that he had spoken. "Look, uh, I know we don't really know you too well but it's not good to keep things bottled up forever, ya know?"

Tifa lowered her head, concealing the lower half of her face with the top flap of her cloak.

"I'm jus sayin', if you need someone ta talk ta, we're all here." Cid continued.

"Thanks..." Tifa mumbled.

"Whada where ya doing before we found'ya in the woods?" Beret spoke up, the shadows the fire cast dancing on his dark skin.

"SOLDIER." Tifa only had to say one word because everyone knew what she meant.

"I knew you looked familiar!" Yuffie jumped up, waving her arms in the air before continuing, "You were on the news! Vincent Valentine... only that wasn't your real name and there was some scary truth about you. I can't remember what it is though."

Everyone jumped to their feet, except Tifa who remained sitting. "You're a spy, ain't you!" Cid made an accusation. Beret made a disgusted face while Yuffie picked up her shruiken.

"You've been playing us this whole time!" Beret shouted.

"So, they've found out." Sephiroth spoke to her in a low tone.

"What the hell is your angle?"

"It was only a matter of time." Sephiroth continued.

"I suppose you were going to wait and kill us when we fell asleep!"

"What are you waiting for? Aren't you going to defend yourself?" Sephiroth placed a firm hand on Tifa's shoulder.

"What for?"

"So you can collect your big fat pay check and destroy a portion of Avalanche," Beret snarled.

"You're not a monster; you and I both know that. Do take the heat for being one." Tifa could almost feel Sephiroth whispering in her ear. She could swear that she caught a hint of the spearmint toothpaste he often used. The thought of him standing so close to her once again sent shivers up her spine. Her mind fogged over and he became the focus all her thoughts. "Heads up," was what he whispered last before he disappeared back into her memories.

Tifa felt a long metal object come crashing down on her head. She fell over onto her back, staring at her attacker wide eyed and confused. Having been absorbed by nostalgia, she was not aware she was responding to the real life conversation around her. Tifa made no attempt to defend herself, if she got carried away, she'd end up seriously hurting them. That wouldn't help her case at all. The pole part of Cid's spear collided with her stomach, pushing the breath out of her. She sat up quickly, narrowly avoiding a blast from Beret's mechanical gun arm. A shruiken clipped her check, drawing blood to the surface of her skin. She hoped to her feet and some sort of interpretative dance; attempting to dodge the blasts of energy at her feet, a large spear jabbing at her torso and a shruiken whirling around her head in the air somewhere. With a great leap she flew up into the air, vanishing from sight in the darkness of the night.

"Son of a bitch! You get down here now!" Cid shouted to the tree tops.

"You attack because I worked for Shinra?" Tifa shouted down to them.

"Ya, and you lied to us you big jerk!" Yuffie threw her shruiken towards the trees in a hopeless attempt to catch Tifa.

"You never asked!"

"Shut up and get down here so we can kill ya!" Beret bellowed towards the sky; anger and rage filling his voice. A large golden boot came falling through the air and smacked Beret on the face, causing him to stumble back in surprise. A matching boot landed next to Beret.

"What the hell are ya doing?!" Cid shouted again. Next a holster, Cerberus, and a leather ammunitions belt fell to the ground.

"Is he stripping?" Yuffie had a hint of excitement in her question. The question was answered when Tifa's red cloak landed across her face. A leather glove fell and then her leather suit landed on the dirt with a light thud accompanied with a number of belts. Next was a leather vest. When the articles of clothes stopped falling, Yuffie spoke again, "What, not underwear?"

"I am unarmed, drop your weapons." Tifa ordered sternly, ignoring Yuffie's comment completely.

"Why the hell did you take your clothes off?!" Beret seemed repulsed by the idea of a man sitting next to naked in a tree, however, he transformed his mechanical arm back in to a hand. Yuffie and Cid also dropped their weapons.

"Your raving mad boy!" Cid called up.

"Did you want to know a part of the truth?

"A part? Dang it I want to know all of it," Beret folded his arms across his chest.

"I only prefer to disclose so much." With those words, Tifa hoped down from her perch high within the trees. All the others saw at first was pasty blur landing next to the campfire. Before they had realised what they say, Cid automatically had Tifa pinned to a large tree trunk by her chest. She didn't wriggle or attempt to resist him. Cid immediately jumped back when he realized what he had been groping.

"You're... You're a ... chick?!" Cid stammered. Tifa let out a heavy sigh, she was wearing a white tank top, her single golden claw and some black leggings; overtop of her underwear of course, that showed off her feminine curves. "But... but...but y'all were in SOLDIER."

"Ya, I'm female," She rolled her eyes.

"Oh ya," Yuffie placed a finger on her chin as she thought back to the news clip she had seen. "That was part of it. And I think there was something about you stealing billions of dollars worth of research equipment."

Tifa arched an eyebrow at the dark haired girl. "And I was only with SOLDIER for about a month or so."

"Yet you made first class easily, the same rank as Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal." Yuffie continued.

"How is it possible that a girl can be as powerful as Sephiroth?" Beret frowned.

"I'm not," Tifa bent down to begin gathering up her gear. "I was stronger."

"That's a load-o-crap! He was a genetic experiment, how can a simple girl match that. Let alone a human one, I don't think that he was completely human." Cid protested.

Tifa walked closer towards them so the light of the campfire would shine on her pasty white skin. She held her arms up and slowly rotated in a circle for them. Yuffie covered her mouth when she saw Tifa's weak form. Without her gear, a fair amount of her scars we visible, traveling across her skin like cracks and potholes on an old highway. "I'm not with Shinra and I will not raise arms against you. However if you attack me again, you will have to be spoon fed for the rest of your lives. Sephiroth died by my hand, you all couldn't match his strength combined. It would be wise to let the issue with me working for Shinra subside." Tifa grimaced as she touched her bloody cheek.

Yuffie, Beret and Cid glanced at each other cautiously before Yuffie spoke again, "So... you're a monster too then?"

Tifa scowled but refused to answer. She put on her gear again, though she felt their eyes of them upon her. "Your lives are at risk now that you know some of the truth. Shinra will hunt you down and kill you all off. Despite you all being terrorists and being able to hide this long, you will have never before had such a number chasing after you all. Without me, you don't stand a chance. You helped me get to Midgar, now I'm offering to save your lives." Tifa pulled her cloak over her shoulders and fastened the buckles up.

"Um.... I guess?" Beret scratched his weave.

"Err... Thanks?" Yuffie shrugged.

* * *

Tifa had a competitive grin on her face as she peeked over the top of her hand of cards. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to read Sephiroth's thoughts by his expression. She had no such luck; his face was always a poker face, concealing all thoughts behind a serene mask. He made eye contact with her, but said nothing. Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow at her as he waited for her to take her turn.

"Hit me," She grinned. Sephiroth flipped over a three. "Hit me." He flipped over a ten. "Hit me." He flipped over a nine. "Damn it!" She slapped her cards on the table. Tifa grabbed the pile of cards and dealt two cards to Sephiroth. Meanwhile, Sephiroth pulled the stack of cookies Tifa had bet on her last hand and placing his own bet. Since neither of them owned poker chips, they stole a couple boxes of cookies from the kitchen.

"Hit me." He said. Tifa turned over a six. "Hit me." She turned over a two. "Hit me." She turned over a jack. "Hit me."

Tifa threw a cookie at his head. "There's already 17 on the table. I suggest you stick."

"Hit me," He repeated himself more assertively. Tifa flipped over another two. Sephiroth put down his cards face up to reveal two aces.

"You've been counting the cards haven't you?!" the dark haired girl folded her arms tightly across her chest. Sephiroth pressed his lips together into a thin line. Tifa frowned and threw another baked good at his head. "That's cheating!"

Sephiroth caught the projectile in his hand and took a bite out of it, chewing it thoughtfully. "It's not cheating, it is annoying though." He examined the chocolate chunks carefully. Sephiroth opened his mouth when he had swallowed to speak again. A low pitched screech burst from somewhere within his chest. Sephiroth faded to black, as did the room. However, the screeching continued.

Tifa slowly opened her eyes, rubbing them to get rid of the blur. The others sleeping around her had not heard the screeching yet because of the fact that none of them had genetically enhanced senses like she did. She felt the presence of something of large numbers a few hundred yards off. Whatever it was, it wasn't a humanoid, possibly some type of beast. She jumped to her feet, it was approaching them quickly. Tifa felt her heart race in excitement as her adrenaline went up about seven notches.

* * *

_**A/n: :( I apologize profusely for the length of time it took to update. My computer was a living dinosaur- over 9 years I had it and it wasn't brand new when I acquired it. One day, it died. I lost everything except for what I stored on my external hard drive, which was only music, amvs, pictures, and work related files. All my stories I was working on for fanfiction: gone. Then on top of all that, I was moving so I didn`t really have the extra money to purchase a new computer. Thankfully, I`m all moved in now, I have a laptop and I plan to update regularly again. Again, I apologize for the delay.**_

_**Reviews:**_

_**Thanks for the review xSefirosux! I`m working on another SephTi fanfiction... I`ve rewritten it about 7 or 8 times, just going through plot ideas. Nothing's really tickling my fancies. Loz in Advent Children Complete was quite amusing. He looks older than the others but acts the youngest. Hope to hear a review from you soon and that you like this chapter as you have my others.**_

_**Thanks for the review Lilith! Moving sucked... try to avoid it if you can. I know my chapters are short but I have a horrible habit of writing them late at night when I feel the most compelled to write them. I usually end up falling asleep at the keyboard around 2 if I don't call it quits at a reasonable time. Hope you enjoy this chapter. I once wrote a short story about a girl named Lilith... I was wondering if I knew you in the real world or if it's just a coincidence. **_

_**Thanks for the review ! Genesis is not dead yet, fear not. I'm happy to see that you like my story and thank you for your first review. I don't mind Cloud, I'm just tired of the love triangle between him, Tifa and Aerith. Sephiroth will be back, that is the whole point of Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz showing up and stealing Jenova's head. Hope you drop another review.**_

_**I took it slow... or slower than usual for this chapter. Hope you guys like it and drop a review. I will be updating within the next few days!**_


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